The internet and ability to sit behind a computer gives people a sense of confidence that in real life they wouldn't usually have.

People will probably think that's ironic after some of the conversations I've had on here but that's also why in the early days I had no problem using my real name as my username.

Precisely - and this is why most studies on the subject find that circa 1 in 3 kids suffer cyberbullying at some point - it's absolutely awful

You're not wrong there......

Wish I was

I'm one of those rare people who never signed up to FB, and I never will; I have no desire to reconnect with people I left behind in my schooldays, I'm not interested in where people go on holiday or what they're having for tea, and if I want cat videos, I imagine I can find them on YouTube. On that basis, FB never appealed to me.

The recent scandals about personal data and how its used have confirmed that I made the right decision; and if I had any doubt, a recent work meeting with a company who specialise in using the FB algorithm to target potential employees has removed it - the level of targeting and specificity they can achieve by using the data that FB harvest about its users is genuinely sinister. The guy actually said to me, "the reason FB is free to users, is because you're not the customer - you're the product." Scary stuff.

That aside - online abuse does seem to be reaching epidemic proportions; and the social media companies appear to be moving heaven and earth to ensure that they don't have to take any responsibility for the content that appears on their platforms. My suggestion - set a date, and turn off FB, Twitter and Snapchat; the latter being, as far as I can see, inherently dodgy, since it's USP seems to be that messages disappear immediately having been read, hence it's popularity with 'the kids.'

Social media is a brilliant thing, especially when marketing a club for example. Nothing wrong with it in principle and it's clearly here to stay.

The American gun lobby always states "guns don't kill people, people do'. Utter nonsense obviously. Sadly Facebook, Twitter etc are sadly just the same. Not a perfect comparison I know but you'll hopefully get the point.

By restricting gun ownership, you could pretty much end America's gun problem. Ditto social media, it could easily be regulated and made traceable.

Problem is both issues are corrupted by one thing and its that thing that will stop the much-needed reforms that certainly in the case of social media would make it a true power for good.

Money, that's the issue. There is simply far more money to be made with unrestricted gun law and unrestricted social media than with it and I mean far more. Forget the peddling of freedom of speech or the right to protect yourself, its all about money.

Such a shame.

I get your point about social media and your information but unfortunately you are still out there.
If you have any kind of bank card then lots of retailers handle that info.
Restricting social media won't stop that kind of fraud, which is the bit you need to secure.

I'm sure when America was wild and untamed, they'd say the gun was the best invention the world had seen. Same with the Internet. It is a phenomenal invention and can do good in unprecedented ways. Unfortunately people use it for criminal activities too.
You wouldn't stop producing cars because it was used to run someone over. You stop the guy getting a car.

Oh I'm not in the tinfoil hat brigade - I'm very well aware that all sorts of personal data is circulated in less than obvious ways; but the way that people willingly submit every facet of their behaviour to FB in particular, just seems crazy to me. I know I'm just an old man yelling at clouds, but I don't care.

…I'm with you, Bren...the only ones I use are text messaging and WhatsApp.

Dinosaurs rule

With yuou all the way, Bren, 100%. I'd ban Facebook tomorrow. I'm sure that it has more bad qualities than good.

Lol. I reckon we are similar ages but I absolutely love social media. There are lots of things I don't like about it but they are all how other people use it.
I'm just careful what I share, thrifty with my friends list and don't buy anything directly through links.

Nah I've never particularly been into Facebook, I joined initially to get in touch with an old University friend to tell him about a mutual friend that had died. After that for the first year or so it was just used for catching up with all old school mates, College and University friends that I'd lost touch with, or had moved around the Country, or emigrated. Then after a while you get bombarded with friends requests from people you knew slightly in the early 90's and you feel obliged to except them. Then you start getting loads of notifications from lots people doing their utmost best to show the world they're living their absolute best life, eating at this restaurant, going to this Club, this holiday, this new car, so many people trying too hard. Also the thing that's crept in the past couple of years is a fair number of the women I know and some of the men have become shockingly good at Photoshop to make themselves look younger, slimmer, more muscular etc. The amount of times I've nearly died from cringing when I bump into someone who looked great in their recent pictures on Facebook is no joke.

.

Facebooks the least of people's worry imo, because not everyone uses it and like me put next on nothing on it, it's mobile phones, IPhones in-particular are the biggie, they're like having an implanted chip in your arm, where 'they' know where you are 24/7, where you stop, where you eat, all those pages of small print no one ever reads when they're updating various operating systems and apps, can get you a bit paranoid if you think about it too much

. Plus if you use your phone to pay they also know what you're spending you money on.


Well this has gone well OT.