Friday, October 12, 2012

Be Careful What You Wish For


Once upon a long ago, I used to wish my real-time friends and acquaintances were online. I'd see youngsters social networking with each other and wish I could do the same with my peers. Sure, the young people were friendly and helpful and never made me feel excluded.  But there were times upon times when I longed for a little peer to peer online nostalgia time-out. My contemporaries however were least bothered about toeing the techno line.

Until recently when a handful of colleagues finally breached the Facebook divide. And sadly, I have to admit the old cliche is true: Be careful what you wish for - you just might get it. Having my old friends and workmates finally available online isn't at all what I'd once fondly cracked it out to be. Reason: we're just not on the same wavelength online. I probably come off sounding like a nasty diva but their rookie bumbling around blows my stress levels sky high. It's annoying and aggravating when they discuss my statuses at work, do steals on my friends or make clumsy newbie moves. One even "shared" a photo album with single shots of yours truly (something I don't often care to post online). I had to quickly text her that sharing entire albums was a big no-no. She apologized profusely and said she'd "hide or unshare it right away." Right away took some time but after a couple of days, phew, my album no longer featured on her timeline.

Sure, I know being new to anything, much less the mad, mad world of social networking, is tough nuts. But I've been there, done that, sport a few scars, and it's like I'm now on level 12 and way, way past level 1. Maybe soon the newbies will catch up and we will all coexist as happily online as off. But for now, excuse me while I tear my hair and climb the walls, grrrrrr.

15 comments:

  1. Haha...I can vaguely imagine your angst. It's mortifying when someone post unflattering pictures of you online.

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    1. Phew, it hasn't got to the posting unflattering pictures of colleagues stage yet. They're still at the tagging themselves on every picture they appear in stage :D But the unflattering thingy is probably up next so maybe I should just disown them all before that comes up :p

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  2. lol. I thought you were describing me though I am not a 'newbie' and I don't go sharing others' photos basically because I still don't know how ;) and I am probably still at level 2 or 3, compared to your 12 ;)

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    1. Plats, you cut your online teeth on mirc around the same time I did so that makes you just as seasoned an old warhorse as I am :D And when I talk about the newbie-ness of these folks, I mean the 'Facebook is the beginning and end of the internet' kind of raw rookie-ism o_0

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  3. Hehe. Good write-up. The problem I have with social networking, specifically FB, is that I'm now 'friends' with students and kids from KTP etc. Can't really ignore their request coz they come up to you and say pls accept and one certainly doesn't want to come off as aloof or pricey. But it becomes a problem for me as I have to be very careful with what I post knowing these people can see it. Have to maintain the facade and the hypocrisy of being err..mature and responsible (saying this as I gag) and they get to post anything they want.

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    1. There's actually a nifty little way out for that, Sanga. The Fb powers that be have conveniently enabled grouping the people on your friends list and you can customise every single post so some groups can see it and some don't. I have a Colleagues list and a Students list (plus a few more) and when I posted this blog update on Fb, guess which two lists I blocked from seeing it? :p A little tip I got from a certain young old online friend. Very handy.

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  4. Lol. I bet I know at least one of the people you're referring to. And yes, my patience has been tried too. hahahahaha.

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    1. Gotcha, missy, I thought as much :D I feel hideously, heinously guilty but I couldn't take the aggravation anymore so I eliminated said person from my list. All those dis n dat outdated cuteisms proved a little too much for my sanity. Me bad, hey? :p

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    2. hyuk2.... You are braver than me so I applaud you.

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    1. FB has changed a good deal from what it was in 2008, Loch. And the fact that every major website now has a FB link/page is proof of its relevance. But then, for you too, been there, done that and that's fine.

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  6. Yes I know it has changed a lot. But I don't want to go back. I am comfortable without FB and somehow I prefer twitter. And I also notice that a lot of the kids who drive these technologies and trends seem to be quitting FB though I am not sure why. Security issues? Passe? Or perhaps some of the issues that you raised in your blogpost. Or maybe even the very fact that every major corporation or site has a FB link/page.

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    1. Well, I did say FOR you that you had been there and done that and that was fine. Period. And my post didn't necessarily refer to FB per se but to the incompetencies of some of my colleagues at navigating themselves online and who had chosen to start with FB.

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  7. The younger generation will soon find something else as FB seem to be crowded with the not-so-young,like me.

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    1. Hehe Daniel, online hang-outs are never happening for very long for any diehard netizen, young or old. Take me, I've done the MSN, ICQ and Yahoo chats, MIRC, izawl.com, zoram.com, misual.com, lawrkhawm.com, buannel.com, myspace, skype, blogger, flickr, Orkut, Fb, twitter, tumblr, G+, (skipped Hi5) and I can hardly wait for the next BIG THING :)

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