Delicious

Finally found a local place for AYCE Snow crab Legs.

Danger Will Robinson

Dangers Will Robinson never faced…

Facebook… it’s many things to many people. Mostly a good way to keep up on family and friends. And the little that is not so good… well… it’s mostly really, really bad. And then there’s the plainly annoying… too many posts, suggestions, or ads that take “commercials” to a whole new level of annoying. But it is what it is… like everything else ya can’t have the good without some of the negatives. Ya just need to realize what they are and learn how to deal with them, get around them, and avoid them if possible.

Some of the negatives. Lets start with addition. I go on several times a day (short peeks) on my leisure time just to see what family and friends are up to. This is especially nice with Rving friends. People that you meet and could very easily loose touch with as we all travel to new places to do new things. Some people we know have turned the casual trips to Facebook into journeys of epic discovery that have taken over their lives. The danger signs are not only that they go to Facebook often, but seemingly spend multiple hours of their day, through out the day, everyday, on Facebook… hours upon hours at a time… to the neglect of other “real” things they could be doing to enrich their life. It’s funny to see someone post and especially repost 20-30 “shares” everyday via their Facebook… and then comment that they don’t have time to get things done in their life. BUT… to each their own… I’m not judging… just observing. They are welcome to do whatever they want… and that’s the beauty of it all… ya have the freedom to do anything you want for as long as you want… it’s your life. But be aware of the possibility of it taking over your life. After all, the innocent idea of Facebook keeping you on touch with others is a mega money maker driven by greed. Advertisements and commercials of anything and everything that might be interesting to you to read (to get you involved), or “Share” (to get others involved)… all that make money for someone else, while consuming more and more of your time… or should I say, your life. Bet Facebook and its advertisers love to find something that you are passionate about, so that endless targeted commercials can be sent your way… for your viewing pleasure, with the idea that you can get involved and easily “share” them with others so they to can get involved or pass them on too. It has, and can get out of hand.

    

Then there’s the scams so to speak. From those that simply want to appeal to you personally, be it something good or something that you are opposed to. They want you to agree with their way of thinking ( and that’s okay ), and hopefully pass it on (“share”) to others so that they too can identify with the issue and agree or perhaps be persuaded to thinking differently. Some posts, be them mere commercials for some thing or some issue, could have a great purpose behind them all, and you are just a unknowing participant. Some directly or indirectly make money for someone as you visit their posts or Fb page, and when you “Share” this with others, it multiplies their potential to make more money. Some “shares” are more covert and want to to “share” more things with others to broaden their database of people and what they are interested in (to target future ads and commercials), and sometimes to collect names and data for more destructive purposes on a personal level. It sometimes amazes me that those that always seem to get hacked, seem to be those that “share” posts, comments, and ads redirecting them, and those they share it with, to other Fb pages, web sites, videos, and other places where you personal information or at least your name and computer are at risk of being used. This is further promoted by posts that encourage you to pass it on (“share”) to family and friends… pass it on if you want to be rich, happy, and blessed. They generally say that 99 out of 100 will NOT pass this on… and they’d be correct… 99 of 100 are smarter then the 1 that did. Thinking it’s just for fun? Harmless? Maybe… maybe not!   

Next on the list of negatives. Generally it’s not good to have a written discussion that may become heated and get out of control. Communication person to person is a lot of things. Body language, expressions, tone of voice, mannerisms… not just the words. And all that communication is missing when it’s only words on the page. Misunderstandings can easily develop and things can get out of hand quickly… people have lost friends over this… or at the least have developed issues that may have been resolved or not. Then there’s those that always want to inject controversy into everything… even to the point of being rude, just to stir the pot of discontent. Who needs this? 

So what’s the solution? Well, like everything, ya have to endure the bad to get the good. Learn to avoid it where possible. Use Fb controls to limit who or what you see. Limit who see’s what you post. I also use a neat little program called “Social fixer” to sensor things I don’t want to see. Like blocking all posts or comments that contain certain words… like… “politics”, “political”, “president”, congress”,  “government” for examples. It may not work all the time, but it helps. Bottom line… it’s still information passed on by your family and friends. And you want to see their updates about themselves. Even if the updates are mixed in with their 20-30 “shares” every day. I have taken them off my newsfeed so all their “shares” don’t appear on MY newsfeed, in my face. I just get notifications of their posts… and skim past the “shares” to find the updates to read. Works very well, and helps keep my newsfeed more in my control. Probably the biggest annoyance is the political crap. It may be real, and may be truthful… but that’s not he point. There’s a place for everything, and political crap on Fb amounts to little more then simply complaining. Your friends already know how you feel… and like most either don’t care or don’t want to hear it over and over again. If you truly want to effect political change, Facebook is not the venue… get out there in your neighborhood, out with the people, and actively promote your thoughts and feelings about why you think your candidate or party is the greatest, and why the other is so bad. Convince them… out there, in the public, where you can make a change. My personal belief via years of observation and government corruption, coupled with no one in government being able to do anything except blame others for all the failures… NONE OF THEM ARE WORTH ANY CONSIDERATION. Facts about all politicians, and both parties, leave many, many things to be desired. So please, leave it all off of Facebook, quit complaining on Fb to friends… just get out there and do something about it. You’re not accomplishing anything complaining on Fb.  

******************************************************

The bottom line: Facebook is what it is… The good, the bad, and the annoying. Tolerate the negative to get the benefits of staying on touch the family and friends across the miles. Still mostly good. Not on Facebook? Don’t be put off by the negative that you might hear. There’s still a lot of good benefits to staying in touch with friends despite any negative. The biggest negative… the time consuming addiction ( but you can control that) and the annoying reposts of “shares” and ads/commercials. They are kinda like tv commercials… control what you can, ignore the rest, and fast forward through them. The rest is all good.