A Social Networking Nightmare

Social Media. We all seem to have access in today's society to all sorts of social media, be in our ten Facebook accounts, or through Twitter and MySpace, to interact with people we never would have dreamed of interacting with before, or making connections we never thought possible. We are keeping in touch with friends that we only ever see twice a year, and we get to thank Aunt Judy for our birthday card without having to send a letter back via snail mail.



Next year though, could you PLEASE use the postal service, instead of a pigeon?

 But with any great advancement, it has its drawbacks. With the ability to now connect with so many people easily, to hear the smallest of thoughts on there boring and mundane lives makes you wonder what have we really achieved? I can now honestly say that I know what my best friend had for dinner. That guy that I've never actually met who lives in America is watching something called Shark Week. I'm being spammed with hundreds of silly pictures which are supposed to be motivational but amount to nothing more than 'Cuddling is great' or some other useless piece of information that I really don't think is really important to me right now.

The ability to over share is perhaps a danger in itself. How easy is it to share on Facebook that you're going to take a sick day because you'd rather walk around the house in the nude and paint artistic depictions of religious events? Really easy. How easy is it to forget that your boss can read every status that you make? Really easy. How much time would it take to piece together that maybe the email you sent in to your Boss saying that you came down with a rare case of the Bubonic Plague and need the rest of the week off, may actually be a lie? About two point three seconds.

I'll teach you for not getting an invite...

So what do we do? Well, there isn't a lot you can do. Social media is here to stay in a lot of ways. Though in a few years time we may move on from Facebook to some other ambitious new social media site, social media itself is ingrained in our society. Even if they haven't used it, everyone knows what Facebook is. The only thing we can do is censor ourselves. Deleting anything from a social media site is like trying to rip your arm off with a toothbrush. Practically impossible. Once you upload that status, consider it up there for good. Want to upload that picture of yourself scantily clad in a pose that would make any parent want to rip their eyes out? Sure thing, make sure that you realize that when it comes to your next job interview, that particular photo may come back to haunt you.

Employers have taken more and more lately, into checking people's Facebook and social media accounts to look at their digital footprint. Is there anything on your social media accounts that you wouldn't like a potential employer to see? I know that mine is riddled with them. Think about THAT next time you think about writing a status updated calling your current employer the worst person that ever existed.

One Note, or many?

Group work has never been my forte, and I probably won't be the first to admit that working on a document at the same time that anyone could edit or add to isn't exactly in my comfort zone either. It was good though to be able to see others working on other parts of the document which was shared without having to correspond through email. The program itself was useful though, if was much more flexible than a Word Document, in the fashion that you could create several pages that you could easily skip to. That being said, the Word Processing capabilities were poor, every time I wanted to change the text size or bold a particular item using the ribbon, I would have to pick on the button to show it. I'm sure though that there was a way of doing it that was easier, but I just didn't see it.

But, onto the subject matters at hand. It was fairly basic principles that we dealt with really - not opening suspicious emails which might contain viruses is something that we should really all be doing. There are plenty of people out there that for some reason, want nothing more than to infect the worlds computers with an insidious virus for no more pleasure than making the world pull their hair out.

DAMN YOU PERSON I'LL PROBABLY NEVER MEET!

There were other important subjects to think about, such as how not to use your email. How many people actually know that there are laws which restrict how or when you can send spam, and what is considered spam? I didn't know the legalities behind it, at least. Who knew that if you didn't have a clearly marked unsubscribe button, you'll be penalised for it?

And a final almost unrelated thought; I really need to get out of this bad habit I seem to have kept since my High School days. Assignments don't need to be crammed in the last minute - there are entire weeks set aside for them. Why I procrastinate until the last possible moment, in the wee hours of the morning, is completely beyond me. I really need to get better at this.

Calendars are evil!

Calendars. We all seem to have them for one reason or another, for planning events and trying to keep our overly hectic lives in balance. How many of us, though, actually use these devices to their full potential? How many of the daily calendars that are sold in newsagents and shops, actually used instead of played with for a few weeks before it is forgotten and left at the bottom of the handbag or desk draw. I am personally a huge fan of the paper based calendar, a small diary that is easy to carry around and alter as I need to.

Not pictured: Pencil

But why, when we have Android phones and more access to the internet than any generation before us, would I rely on archaic principles such as paper to keep my life in order. I have never really used anything like Google calendars, even the inbuilt calendar on my phone is only there for aesthetic purposes. Why write people's birthdays down when Facebook sends us a nice reminder that your great aunt Gillian is turning 50 today?

Well sports fans, what happens if Facebook, or Google has some sort of server malfunction. Or maybe something more likely, a lack of internet reception, power or quite simply access. When the Apocalypse occurs I shall be the one laughing as I continue to plan my events in my paper diary while everyone goes into chaos without their technological devices!

Say goodbye to your free Wi-Fi.

Okay, perhaps it won't be anything as dramatic as that example. Google has its advantages however, especially when you're travelling. Why carry about a small book when you can access Google calendars or Facebook anywhere there is some type of internet reception. That's its major advantage over the hard copy that paper has yet to solve. When did you last hear the excuse that someone accidentally threw your Google calendar through the wash, or put it in the fire because your house mates ran out of firewood?

I think that I'll try out the Google calendar for this class - if merely for its convenience, and the fact that I've misplaced my paper diary at the present moment. I can assess whether I truly approve or disapprove of it at the end of the term. For now I think I'll reserve judgement. So far it looks very useful, even if some of the features take a little while to understand.

In the end, in a society as jam packed and chaotic as ours, we can't escape them. Calendars are here to stay.

Whether we like it or not.