Reply to "To Facebook or Not to Facebook?"

I know I am a little late here, but I can completely relate to your concerns about facebook. Maybe I am just paranoid, but I have gone out of my way to avoid it for years. In fact, I never even used my real name on anything online unless I needed it for a credit card or something. I show my daughter every news story I can find about someone getting into trouble because a friend, college, or employer came across something carelessly posted, sometimes years beforehand. It is hard to teach her to be careful and private, but not paranoid, lol.

That said, I signed up last week. I just got tired of not being able to participate in so many things. I have not really put anything up, and may hold off on that for a while. Also, I have been reading up a bit on it, and at this point Facebook is only a small concern. These days everyone has ways to get their hands on way more information about us than we would like, and Facebook is no longer the worst culprit, just a very visible one. Maybe that's a foolish reason, but considering how much information our doctors, government, insurance, utilities, schools, and banks store online, I no longer think it's the biggest concern.

I think the most important thing is to just be aware and involved. Pay attention to  new laws and regulations, and think about how they apply to you. Use good passwords, be careful how much personal information you post, and learn to fiddle with the privacy and security settings. It seems like instagram and other similar services are becoming even more popular than facebook now, and all of the big companies and services will have similar policies. Don't know if it's useful information, just my personal opinion. Good luck!