Category Archives: Techno-confusion

Is Facebook of the Debil?

I’m not sure how to tactfully talk about the subject of fear regarding social media. I have acquaintances who are fairly certain that Facebook is the equivalent of standing naked on the street corner. They speak freely of stalking their friends pages and how wrong it feels to know more about their friends than they think they should. I can’t help pointing out that people post things on Facebook TO LET people see them.

It’s also important to note that the only people privy to your Facebook page are your FRIENDS if you set your privacy settings accordingly. In fact, you can completely lock down your Facebook page so that you are the only person who sees any of it…although I can’t imagine why anyone would feel the need to have Facebook under those conditions. There is also the nice “List” feature which makes it possible to divide your friends list into separate smaller lists and allows you to post updates/pictures/links just to those people without inundating your entire list.

Really. Unless you’re adding complete strangers to your friends list, it’s pretty unlikely you’ll be sharing your information with any strangers.

People also worry about their kids using Facebook and being conned by shady men (or women) posing as 13yo girls (or boys).
I get it. I do. It’s just not something likely to happen on Facebook. Take five minutes to investigate the privacy settings and you’ll see what I mean.

I’ve come to realize that Facebook, Twitter and their counterparts are similar to driving our cars and parking them in huge bustling parking lots outside a shopping center (I’m making a point – I promise.) We all have choices to make when we park our cars. We have a choice about whether or not we’ll close the windows, lock the car, leave our purse on the seat, hide cash and loose change, leave mail (with our return address clearly visible) on the dashboard…etc. We know that people get their cars stolen from parking lots. We know someone could walk past and attempt to steal our identity with information we leave lying around. We still decide to go ahead and park and walk away. Someone else in the parking lot walks past and glances to see that we’ve left our dog in the car. Is that person a stalker just because they stop to look in the car? Not really. They’re nosy. They’re not stalkers.

I understand the inherent problems that come with turning a kid loose on Facebook. I believe Facebook’s policy of not allowing people under 13 is reasonable. Parents should be walking through this new frontier alongside their kids. Talk about privacy settings and set them fairly high for the kids accounts.

Don’t operate from a base of fear. Fear makes us do and say silly things. Arm yourself with real information. Start a Facebook account. Limit it to family only for the first six months while you get a feel for how it works. Facebook is different things to different people – find out what works for you. Control it. Don’t fear it.

Be familiar with it and manage it as a tool not as a weapon or a ticking time bomb.

Social Media is not going away – ever. It’s just going to become more and more necessary for our children to be able to pick and choose where they will invest their time in the online world. We can help them begin making those choices while they still live with us. Talk about variety. In the same way that there are lots of different kinds of tissue on the market (yet we only use the kind we like)… there are choices with regard to social media. You don’t have to use all of it…nor should you try. Use what works for you and feel free to ignore the rest.

UPDATE: Well ain’t that like life? Facebook went and changed within a few weeks of my writing this. *sigh* I still don’t think it’s scary but I’m not happy with the changes. If I thought Google+ was better I would use that instead. Right now it’s a draw.

How to upgrade Straight Talk phone

When I googled for this information a few weeks ago (when I wanted to get a new phone) I couldn’t find clear answers to my questions. So, now that I’ve gone through the process I hope to provide a service (on this subject at least) by giving you this information.

If you are already a Straight Talk customer and decide you want a new phone here’s what to do:

Go to the Straight Talk website and choose the “shop” tab.

Pick out your phone and follow the steps then choose your service plan. After you pay for your phone the next step is to wait until your new phone arrives. Your old phone will continue to work until the new phone is activated. (Also – if you were on Auto-Refill with your old phone – auto-refill automatically cancels when the new phone is activated. So if you want to be on Auto-refill with the new phone you have to go through the steps to set it up again. It will not roll over to your new phone.  (**see update below**)

When your new phone arrives and you’re ready to activate it, go to the Straight Talk site and hover your cursor over the “Activate/Refill” tab. A box will drop down that will say “Transfer Number”. Choose the Transfer option and not the Activate option. Once the new phone is activated your old phone will automatically stop working within minutes.

I recommend checking the “shop” category regularly. They often have refurbished phones that sell for significantly lower than the average price on the market. I got a very nice phone for $20. That’s right. $20. I found the same model (also refurbished) on ebay for $54. So I think I got a good deal, and even if it turned out to be a lemon, I only spent $20 for a $100 phone. SCORE.

I hope this is helpful for any Straight Talk customers who might be wondering and wandering as I was.

UPDATE 3/11/2013:   I upgraded to a smart phone and everything went according to the above…except that my auto-refill stayed in effect this time.  Perhaps that has to do with now being on the “UNlimited” plan.

Technology is toying with me but I love my new Samsung T401g phone!

So, Tuesday evening I finally took time to figure out how to schedule posts *three cheers*. I plugged in my scheduled time and hit ‘post’ and walked away with a bounce in my step.

Fast forward.

Four a.m.

My eyes fly open as I am tormented by the question, “Did I set it for a.m. or p.m.?”

Couldn’t that dawning moment of clarity have waited two more hours?

For two hours I tried to trick myself back to sleep. Got up at 6-ish and went downstairs to grudgingly turn on the computer. The computer that I had HOPED not to go anywhere near until well into the afternoon.

Harumphf

While my tea was brewing an idea came. Check the blog from my new phone! My new (to me) phone is a refurbished Samsung and it cost me a whopping $20 (yes, Twenty) through Straight Talk (the service I use).

I plugged in my blog address and Presto – there was the post I had hoped to see. Thanks to my clever little piece of technology I had avoided the temptation of cyberland and could stick with my plan to get online in the afternoon.

Well…the computer was already on…might as well respond to comments…and check Google Reader…and Facebook…

I never learn.

Bear with me while I stir up the dust…

I’m still wading through my negligence. That’s right. Negligence. I didn’t understand the importance of categories and tags when I first began blogging and then I just got lazy and didn’t use them anyway once I DID understand their importance.

So now I pay the price. I am going through all of my old posts and categorizing them and tagging..and getting tired of it.

One good thing has come from this exercise, though. I’m actually liking my little blog. I like my posts.

I have been struggling with unhealthy feelings of shame over my writing and my lack of verve or energy or – I don’t really know how to explain it. Suffice to say that I am feeling intimidate by all of the great blogs I’ve been reading lately.

Susan (of Boonie fame) and I spoke about this yesterday and she has been feeling much the same way. We encouraged one another to stop comparing ourselves to everyone else and just be US. I think her counsel was timely for me. I’m so glad she offered it.

So, while I still have a HUGE category of Uncategorized items I will soldier on and get those posts categorized and tagged – one at a time until I’m finally done! Then I’ll have chocolate. (I’ll probably have chocolate well before that time, too – but whatever…)

For fun: Keep an eye on my Category Cloud and watch the GIANT “uncategorized” waste away.