When it comes to social media, I'm still swimming in the shallow end of the pool. I don't have a smartphone and I don't even Tweet every day (the horror!) - but I do have this blog, a FB fan page [batting my eyelashes at you, don't you want to Like it?] and I have texted from time to time.
Image via CrunchBaseAt least I'm in the pool. I have friends who look down their noses at social media - until they have a new book to sell or class they are teaching or in some other way they want to promote themselves. They'll jump onto FaceBook, and Twitter, or send out a flurry of e-mails, but it's almost all one-sided. And then, months of nothing. These are the people who, when you visit their blog and leave a comment, never, ever return the courtesy. You people are annoying as hell. (I can say this freely, because they would have to read my blog to become offended. Fat chance of that.)However, those of you plugged in all the time... you can be annoying too. Once in a while, think about using that old fashioned Social Media, F2F (face to face). Besides, sometimes you simply aren't as smart as your phone.
Don't broadcast that you are away from home. Think twice about using Foursquare when you are out running errands. You know in the scenario above, Melchior's kids had a big party and drank all the booze, Balthazar's brother-in-law borrowed the family camel and smashed a taillight, and Gaspar's stereo and computer got 'jacked.
Tweeting that you're headed to Cancun for two weeks, unless you have a big burly housesitter, is not a good plan. Just Don't. Save posting vaca pics until your return. Talk to your kids and don't let them announce to their friends on FaceBook, "I'm home alone and the house is making all kinds of creepy noises, I'm so scared." (As a niece of mine did, when she was 14.) Look carefully at photos before you recklessly share them online - do they offer clues as to easy access to your home, where the security systems are, etc?
Image via CrunchBaseBeing safe, during the holidays and at all times, is more important than sharing minutia about your life. It just is.And never, ever, text while driving. It is just as dangerous as driving while drunk (which you should never do, either). Let me also put in a plug for not texting/chatting while pushing a baby stroller and crossing the street. (I'm talkin' to you, Sherman Oaks!) Trust me, whatever you are texting or talking about can wait an entire ten seconds while you steer your baby out of the range of people (who may also be distracted by texting) driving potentially lethal vehicles.
I'm still trying to get up to speed on all the bright shiny electronic gadgets that prevent us from getting too close to one another by keeping in touch digitally. I get it that, like it or not, social media is here to stay. Mostly, I like it, but I don't want to be dumb about it, either.
What am I doing for the holiday weekend? Probably just stay home, cleaning my guns and checking my ammo. How about you?
Are you in for the MLK blogfest? If you've got time on your hands, you could start writing your post now.
