It may not come across obviously here on FB, what with my upfront personal style, and the nature of social media in prompting impulsive posts, but I have a certain sense of discretion and reserve about what should be someones privacy (including mine). Most times I would rather look away once I realize I am watching someone whos in the midst of an act they dont realize is being observed, instead of continuing to watch. I was a teen when I got my two best friends to agree (to my face, anyway) to no details! and not prying for such. Maybe this all evolved because a quarter instant is usually enough for me to realize what is happening, and my curiosity, persistence and research skills often take me to places online or IRL where others dont expect me to be. I have always been privy to all kinds of secrets, and I keep them. Anyhow, all this as a prelude to say that I cant stand the FB Ticker feature. Cant handle it. It is the worst outward invasion of privacy of this platform, where you can see what people post, like and do in all of their sundry interests and following their tastes and impulsions, in real time or close to that. I feel like a voyeur watching it. Cant do it, or at least, I cant enjoy it! I compare it to real life situations -- as if I were to secretly observe a friend in conversation with their other friends, or boss, etc., yet stay silent and checking them out. I would learn something and that might be useful, but it would also feel like spying. Its an infinite regression of fishbowls here. Anything we do can be observed by our friends, or the public if we dont use privacy controls. I am also aware of a related phenomenon called Like Stalking, which doesnt happen to me but to more prominent people usually, where all a fan or user has to do is watch the ticker and then just go Like whatever the object of their stalking likes -- being a Like copycat -- and of course peruse their Likes section on their page and Like everything you see there. I think that either Friends or Page fans can do this. Creeps the hell out of me. Must be incredibly creepy if you become aware someone is doing it in realtime; youd see this if you were using the ticker. And so I look away. Keep the sidebar closed (dont chat much anyway) and keep away from the ticker. For those who read me and interact with me, I am trying to maintain as normal a relationship with you as possible, instead of studying your every flippant comment to your buddies or political diatribe. Were all making stupid comments, trust me. Very impulse-prompting medium; as the adage goes, But someone on the Internet is WRONG! and some of us seem to have to address it, or be the one to prove it over and over. Truly, most of you wont care. But I do. And I wanted to address this weird-arse community surveillance feature that FB includes for free, because I think its messed up. This platform is useful, and many of my friends are here, but its features have the power to really alter our sense of how to relate to other people.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 05:17:12 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015