Comments on: Why some people should avoid social media completely

By: Carolyn Thomas

Carolyn Thomas — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 14:09:12 +0000

Thanks for your comments here. “Insensitivity” is the right word for these examples.
Cheers,
C.

By: Carolyn Thomas

Carolyn Thomas — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 22:33:19 +0000

Hi Dr. Bob. Maybe that telephone test could be the standard by which decisions to post social media “news” are made. Would I actually pick up the phone to call (not text but actually call) people I may barely know about every single daily life event – boring or otherwise?
Thanks!
C.

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By: hhoneck

hhoneck — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 19:52:23 +0000

C: An interesting and timely reminder. This does not even begin to cover the recent fascination with posting photographs from highly personal and intimate events like funerals. I experienced this phenomenon two years ago when I saw pictures of close friends at the graveside service of a family member up on Facebook. Some teens in the family had snapped candid shots of the family grieving–crying, hugging, standing over the grave of their loved one–and then decided it was a good idea to post them. I was stunned and mortified for my friends. The total lack of respect and insensitivity was appalling. Who wants photos of themselves at their most vulnerable moments spread across the electronic universe for all to see? I was embarrassed I’d even looked once I realized what they were.

It gets worse. A friend recently told me the tragic story of close friends being murdered back in her home town. It was a well-known family in a small town. Said friend logged on Facebook to find pictures of her deceased friends–in their coffins–posted and TAGGED (and thus in her newsfeed) on Facebook. She contacted the person who posted them and asked that the photos be removed. The person did remove the images, but someone else re-posted more images several weeks later.

I know full well that taking photos of deceased loved ones is a historic practice that was formerly common and socially acceptable. Those images were personal, private tokens of remembrance. However, this is not that era and the medium and method is no comparison. One more example of the reality of human beings behaving badly with social media.

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By: Dr. Bob

Dr. Bob — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 00:55:30 +0000

Carolyn I could not agree more. This urge to divulge mundane minute-by-minute updates about one’s life seems typical of many social media users – and certainly the ones featured here and on Mayo Clinic’s Social Media site.

In the ‘good ol’ days’ BF ( “before Facebook”) we never would have even dreamed of using the telephone, for example, to tell thousands of our “friends” that we’d just committed a crime or to make idiotic comments that might threaten our jobs or reputations. Those were considered pretty private things so you’d want to limit their wide distribution. But no more….

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By: Carolyn Thomas

Carolyn Thomas — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 18:13:13 +0000

Thanks Gloria for taking the time to personally respond. I can understand how embarrassing your “mistake” must have been for you. But the fact that your off-duty alcohol consumption was considered important enough to immediately post from your phone ( to post ANYWHERE, never mind on your employer’s Facebook page by accident) merely reconfirms the whole point of this article: that for a large number of people in the 18-34 demographic – I don’t know you, of course, but I’m taking a wild guess that you might dwell in that age group – posting every single inane detail of life seems worth doing. Read Why Narcissists Love Facebook for more from the Australian researchers who explain why it may not be so.
Cheers,
C.

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By: Gloria Huang

Gloria Huang — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 17:50:01 +0000

Hi, came across your post and just wanted to throw my 2 cents in – I hope my follow up tweet about my “inability to use Hootsuite” was taken with the humor that I intended!

I certainly felt very embarassed when I realized what happened, and was trying to let people know that it was a mistake and that I was responsible for it. The real story is that I was tweeting from my phone and accidentally selected the wrong account to send a tweet through – and I learned my lesson and certainly won’t make the mistake again (I took the @RedCross account off the Hootsuite app and installed another Twitter app to handle only that account).

In the meantime, I continue on my daily work at Red Cross with goal of helping people find the information and help that they need through our online presences on social media.

Thanks for listening,

Gloria

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