WOW! I thought I had seen it all (pun intended) on Facebook recently. But I guess not!
While at Barnes and Noble Saturday afternoon with my mother, assisting her with the purchase of a brand new Nook Color Tablet, my iPhone beeps me.
Usually the beeping of my iPhone can mean several things: I have received an email, someone has texted me, someone has privately messaged me on Facebook, or an individual I have indicated as a close friend on Facebook has either posted something, "liked" a page, or had some other type of activity on Facebook.
Upon hearing the beeping, I immediately unlock my iPhone to investigate what caused the beeping. Turns out it was due to an activity on Facebook by someone close to me who had just "liked" a page. I decide to open up my Facebook app to see who was "liking" exactly what on Facebook. To my surprise, the person who had this recent activity was someone BOTH my mother and I knew. Well, with my mom standing right next to me, she saw me open the app and before I could close the screen and shut my mouth, OMG started coming out of my mouth!
A sidebar here...the person I unfriended on Friday from Facebook (because of the tagged picture of the naked woman) was someone my mother knew, too. And the person that surprised me on Saturday, is also someone my mother knows. This is not looking so good for me and the people I am friends with on Facebook. LOL!
Anyway, she starts asking, "What? What is it this time?" Because she knew all about my last "stupid" encounter with Facebook on Friday, she was especially interested in what was in my news feed at that moment due to my reaction.
I immediately start laughing and tell her, "you are never going to believe this!" So I show her my news feed which shows the person we both know has "liked" a page which has to do with women and pictures of them topless, and the profile photo from the page is in my news feed. (To protect the innocent...and not throw anyone under a bus...I am not going to name the exact page that was "liked" or the person who liked it.)
The comments (or rather questions) that started coming out of my mother's mouth had me laughing so hard. It was as if she thought I had all the answers. "What the heck is going on here, Lisa?" "Have these people all lost their minds?" "What are they doing?" "They do realize we all see this, right?" "I don't know about these people!" "I think they are all going crazy!" And then she made a few more comments in Spanish, which I would type out if I knew how! LOL!!
For two days in a row now, Facebook has included inappropriate photos in my news feed. First a woman fully naked, and then topless women. The only pictures that haven't shown up yet are fully naked men. But I would guess those won't be appearing any time soon, because RARELY is a man's package fully shown publicly. That's ok...I think I would prefer to leave that visual private or to my own imagination. And I would like Facebook to not include the visual of naked women in my news feed anymore, please.
I suppose, more power to the guys that like topless women. But do they really want their children, relatives and people they work with or go to church with to know this about them publicly? Possibly there are some men that don't mind, but I am guessing there are quite a few that would rather not. I would think that making these kinds of "likes" known on Facebook, would be the last place they should be announcing this.
My apologies if it seems that I am trying to single out only the men. That is not the case. Both men and women are publicly posting "stupid" photos on Facebook. After all, Friday's unexpected view on Facebook was from a woman to a woman. Go figure!!!
This situation from Friday and Saturday has made me realize...there is no censoring of ANY kind on Facebook. Anyone can post or create a page that shows anything they want, even if it would be considered Rated R or Rated X. And even though the minimum age to be on Facebook is 13 years old, the content being mentioned is for 18 years and older.
At least with the internet, content that would be intended for adults only can be blocked from children under a certain age when they are surfing the internet. But on Facebook, there are no parental controls or settings to block these types of pages or posts for children under 18 years old. This is pretty scary and concerning as a parent, because Saturday's post was something that my 14 year old son was able to see in his Facebook news feed because he is also friends with this person.
I think I am going to need to address this with my friend. He had to realize that his "liking" the page he did would be seen by everyone he is friends with on Facebook. And it doesn't jive with all of the other types of pages he has liked before and the line of employment he is looking to become a part of currently. Maybe someone hacked his account and "liked" the page on his behalf...maybe. Either way, what might have started out as something funny to partake in on Facebook, could have negative repercussions with employment, family or friends down the road. And I would hate to see that happen to him. I really wonder if people are thinking about this long term, when they are acting in the moment. After my recent naked encounters on Facebook, I am guessing NOT!
I've been "liking" breastfeeding photos. :) I'm glad they show up on people's news feeds though, in hopes of "normalizing" it more. It's a beautiful thing. :) -Heather
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with those photos. :-) Photos of breastfeeding moms should be viewed as a "normal". It is what God intended the breasts to be used for. It is the photos that are blatantly sexual in nature, that I don't appreciate seeing on Facebook. Especially when they can't be blocked for children under 18.
DeleteAs a teacher of children under the age of 13, I can tell you that no one is enforcing the minimum age rule for Facebook. Too many kids have accounts, many with their parent's permission. Zachary (who will be 12 in less that 3 weeks) has been asking me for awhile now to get a page (because his friends "all" have one), but I'm sticking to my guns on this one. If adults lack the understanding that the Internet is not private, how can we expect kids to.
ReplyDeleteChristina
Christina - It is so hard to be a parent right now with all the Social Media apps that keep popping up, and the age restrictions are not enforced, or even required. We made my older son wait until he was 13 to join Facebook, and after a month, we were having issues with certain posts and friends on his FB account, so his account was deactivated. We revisited his getting a FB account again when he started 8th grade - right before he turned 14.
DeleteCurrently, I am caught in a social media apps/internet nightmare with my 12 year old daughter. God give me strength and guidance, as I am trying so hard to parent her "against the tide" of her friends, other kids and even parents, who don't seem to fully appreciate the seriousness of the actions and choices these children are making now - and how it will stay with them for the rest of their life.
A friend of mine told me that in China - children are strongly restricted from using the internet and being a part of all of the Social Media's out there until they are an adult. And if caught, they are fined (or the parents, actually). If this is true, then no wonder their kids seem to be far excelling past our USA children academically...they aren't spending their free time caught in a web of social media and the internet to pass the time.
Good for you for sticking to your guns. Your children will hopefully thank you for it when they are adults. :-)