How did the world survive before social networking sites? Oh I know that people used the telephone and even once upon a time wrote letters. People lost touch regularly and occasionally celebrated finding some long lost friend who turned out to be living just round the corner. Then of course everyone marvelled at how you could get back in touch with all the people who didn’t like you at school, using the wonders of ‘Friends’ reunited. Now however, you need never lose touch with people again, even if you wanted to. Our lives are being broadcast on Facebook and other similar sites so that the whole world can find out what we are doing. I’ll grant you that it’s a great way to keep in touch with what other people you live with are doing, but talking to them might work too.
Some of the same people who are arguing that we are becoming a big brother society with cameras and infringements of civil liberties everywhere, are the same people that are displaying all their day to day thoughts and feelings for the world to see through social networking. Even if they are trying to keep their information private, you can guarantee that they will have ‘friends’ who will tag them in a photo album somewhere in a state of drunkenness or other embarrassing situation. No longer can you do anything in private and think that the world will not get to find out about it. Now you can have your life plastered over the internet without any assistance from the tabloid press and if you haven’t succumbed to the likes of LinkedIn, Bebo and Facebook, the good news is that you probably have friends out there writing about you in their blogs as we speak.
You’ll never guess what my Mistress has gone and done this time . . .