I thought I’d do a wee Facebook audit the other day, given the numerous activities I have been involved in recently and my unfounded and firm belief that it is a GREAT idea to take stupid pictures.

So I trawled through all 450 odd tagged pics of me. None were anything I wouldn’t show to my mum (although sometimes I wonder if maybe mum doesn’t really want to be told/shown half the stuff she does).

BUT as of 2 years odd ago, the trail stops.

It made me wonder how exactly we filled our days before we Facebooked, You Tubed and Twittered. Even texting has changed the landscape of day to day activities in my lifetime. All these things have made us LIVE differently and many of them, we still use clumsily… I’m a firm believe that we are still learning to adapt to these new communication tools. Some uses make sense, others I think our kids will laugh at us for.

Some Examples

• When I organise to meet someone (even if only an hour before meeting time) we will text to ensure we’re running to plan. You never need to remember appointments anymore/worry about being on time
• Anyone I meet, I can choose to know reasonably intimately within a week. This is because none of us understand the true LACK of privacy on the internet and post up stuff that we used to only share with close friends. Has the mystery of meeting new people gone?
• When you are out with someone, more often than not, their phone will take priority over YOU. We still get way too excited at the prospect of someone ELSE wanting to contact us
• Facebook pages are littered with both work AND social contacts. Employers check up on your social life before hiring you. Does this mean your employer now owns all your time? Never before have your extra-curricular activities been the business of your employer
• Texting/Facebook?Twitter? have become acceptable forms of serious communication. I wonder if we will one day realise that some things are better said in person than via a hundred character digital message?