Just before I finished writing today’s column, I wished a happy birthday to an old friend and also to a former student. I would never have known it was their birthday, or anything about them, if it were not for Facebook. Social media, of which Facebook is most prominent, has changed most of our lives, in both good and bad ways.
In the early 2000s when social media was in its infancy, I was still teaching, and students were talking about something called Friendster and MySpace. I wasn't sure what they were, but I knew students were using them to connect with each other online. In 2004 college students at Harvard University developed Facebook with the purpose of giving students at the college a centralized website to connect with each other. Membership was initially limited to Harvard students, expanding to colleges in the Boston area and other Ivy League schools later. Over the next few years Facebook expanded to include colleges and universities all over the country, and in 2006 it became available to everyone over the age of 12 with a valid email address.
At the time I viewed social media as something for the younger generation. It wasn't until my first grandchild was born in 2009 that I saw a need to join myself. Our son was stationed in Japan, and Facebook brought the family closer together with daily photos and updates on baby Brianna's progress.
Fast forward six years and I cannot imagine life without Facebook. Our granddaughters now live in Hawaii, and the first thing I do every morning is to see if our daughter-in-law has posted any photos while we were sleeping. Facebook has allowed me to reconnect with several long-lost friends from high school, and I enjoy following my New York friends during our months in Florida. Facebook is for interest groups as well as individuals, and I belong to several such groups, including a group for our neighborhood in New York; a group of Florida owners of Leisure Travel RVs; my high school alumni and my high school graduating class groups; and of course TR Residents & Friends.
I know many TR Times readers are members of the TR Residents & Friends Facebook Group, which was mentioned at the December Residents Forum. There was concern expressed that some members of the group posted derogatory remarks about others. Some negativity is to be expected on a public forum, and I think that is the price we pay for making it so easy to connect with so many people. While I firmly agree that no one should make personal attacks online, a Facebook group is an ideal place to express opinions and start discussions. We live in a hyper-partisan world, and honest discussion and compromise is hard to come by. It is my hope that the TR Residents & Friends can evolve into a forum for honest and intelligent discussions; a place where we can find out what is going on in the resort and maybe even share ideas on how we can make this place we love even better!
Disclosure — I joined the TR Residents & Friends Facebook Group after it was mentioned at the Resident’s Forum and searching back as far as possible, I did not come across the comments referred to at the forum. I can only guess they have been removed.
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