FB’ed

Social media has now invaded our lives in ways we cannot imagine. How many times do you check your FB a day? Is this the first and last thing you do every day? Our inner most voyeurism needs are satisfied as one can keep up to date with people that they have not met in years or even with total strangers. The reverse is also true, where a person can and wants to inform the world of his every activity – the meal just eaten, the holiday photos in real time.

While people from my generation are finally climbing onto the FB wagon, I still have a number of friends who refuse to have anything to do with it. They fear the invasion of their privacy. Guess what guys, it has already happened. Try to Google your own name and see what comes out. Like it or not, every one’s digital foot prints are slowly being accumulated on the World Wide Web. You are already missing out on all the fun stuff and also the ability to connect with your kids online. So why hesitate?

FB has already been around for a dozen years and I have been a member for 10 so far. My story timeline had been carefully built up over time and I cannot imagine living without it. I have also managed to successfully organized a number of class reunions using the events function – efficiently seeking out and connect with old classmates which was quite difficult to do prior to FB (try doing it on email, you will be spamming everyone).

But as with ever changing technology, my son would tell me : “Dad, FB is so old school, no one uses it any more… we are now into Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest.” Well… better late than never.

Whatsapp,WeChat and Line are also bring another social dimension. We are simultaneously have multiple real time conversations with numerous groups and individuals. This was not possible a few years ago and it was crazy trying to communicate with a group using SMS in the old days.