Kinda sorta


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Posted by Ballpark Frank (24.237.94.196) on 10:24:48 10/31/14

In Reply to: Pretty sure..... posted by Rick

Rick,

There are some key differences between this page and the super contrivances, like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. I don't see bank corporations, major retailers, and restaurant chains putting a Loon Zone logo on their advertizing or weaving it into their marketing strategy.

I also see a difference in what I would call "degrees of intrusiveness", i.e. the inherent ability of the application to invade your life. The tipping point for me, regarding Facebook, came when Facebook opted to launch a new campaign that was going to market personal information harvested from users to all comers. Some of those "comers" were entities I did not want bothering me.

I see social media a bit like nuclear power was perceived in the 1950s and 1960s, extremely powerful, imbued with the potential for incredible destruction and wonderful benefits simultaneously.

On one side, we have seen social media offer amazing personal networking opportunities to individuals who never would have reached out and joined a variety of common interest groups without it. It was instrumental in providing the vital communications linkage that launched the "Arab Spring".

I have seen the dark side! I have seen it offer cyber bullies incredible reach, and I have seen those individuals take cheap shots at people who were relatively defenseless. I know people who suffered substantial emotional harm at their hands. I know of numerous circumstances where individuals have lost their jobs due to information contained in their Facebook profile or postings. At the extreme end, we have those poor souls who exhibit addictive behavior (prone to engage in self-damaging behaviors, like alcohol and/or drug abuse, overeating, or smoking among other dangers). Some of these people have a new devil in their life to deal with. I have literally seen very successful individuals become extremely addicted to one social media or another (using your expanded definition of what constitutes "social media"), to the point that it destroyed their career, turning them into "cyber-junkies", who lived for those daily hours, staring at a screen.

At the end of the day, we each have a responsibility to ourselves to evaluate whether our participation in any social media is a plus or a negative in our lives. Some folks are well-equipped to self-manage. They consciously pick and choose where and when they participate. This is why we see ebb and flow in participation in various bulletin boards, chat pages, and discussion groups.

I know that you have a lot of competing interests vying for your time, and from what I have seen, you do an admirable job of self-managing. You place your career and your family (and likely, a number of other things) above your participation in social media. That is why your trip report has been done in staccato fashion, as time allows.

I just know quite a few people who don't demonstrate the self-management skills that you possess.

I think I lie somewhere in between on the self-management ability continuum. We will see over time!

Ballpark



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