Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Social Networking and how it has impacted your romantic (or platonic) relationships

match000 · 04-14-2008, 01:34 PM

I've given this some brief thought for a while, and just wanted to throw it out there to see what you guys think.

I've used facebook since its beginning, and I've slowly watched it grow from a selective college network to a college network to an everything network.

It now pervades every aspect of a young person's (teenager to late 20's) life. In particular, its quite the "stalker" tool.

The problem with that is -- its *quite* invasive to your privacy. Want to change your relationship status? Sure. Want to do it without everyone seeing it changed? Nope. If you change it, your friends will see, specifically, that you have changed your "Relationship Status" recently, when they click on the "Friends" tab.

Want your ex'es to stop seeing your profile? The only way to do it is to block or remove them. But if you want to be the nice guy (or gal), and not remove them from your friends list, then there is no way to stop them from seeing your profile.

One aspect I have noticed and would like to point out --- undergraduates ("young people") tend to list their relationships (and who it is with) very explicitly. Grad students ("old people") are more careful with their relationship status and often leave it blank (unknown and unlisted).

It seems to suggest that the older people know that they have to play the field more (they are more serious) and cannot afford to announce to everyone of a specific relationship until they are ready for that level of commitment. In short, the older people take it alot more seriously.

Thoughts?

04-14-2008, 01:34 PM	#1 (permalink)
match000 Psycho	Social Networking and how it has impacted your romantic (or platonic) relationships I've given this some brief thought for a while, and just wanted to throw it out there to see what you guys think. I've used facebook since its beginning, and I've slowly watched it grow from a selective college network to a college network to an everything network. It now pervades every aspect of a young person's (teenager to late 20's) life. In particular, its quite the "stalker" tool. The problem with that is -- its quite invasive to your privacy. Want to change your relationship status? Sure. Want to do it without everyone seeing it changed? Nope. If you change it, your friends will see, specifically, that you have changed your "Relationship Status" recently, when they click on the "Friends" tab. Want your ex'es to stop seeing your profile? The only way to do it is to block or remove them. But if you want to be the nice guy (or gal), and not remove them from your friends list, then there is no way to stop them from seeing your profile. One aspect I have noticed and would like to point out --- undergraduates ("young people") tend to list their relationships (and who it is with) very explicitly. Grad students ("old people") are more careful with their relationship status and often leave it blank (unknown and unlisted). It seems to suggest that the older people know that they have to play the field more (they are more serious) and cannot afford to announce to everyone of a specific relationship until they are ready for that level of commitment. In short, the older people take it alot more seriously. Thoughts?