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Just curious, when did you join Facebook/social media? For myself and many other young people, social media began as online chatting through programs like AIM,

by dgzl 8y ago

Just curious, when did you join Facebook/social media? For myself and many other young people, social media began as online chatting through programs like AIM, MSN, YAHOO, or even in games like RuneScape, where we could meet new people or more commonly, talk and show off to our friends from school. Myspace felt like an absolute leap in online expression for us, and the idea of "Top Friends" had a real impact on our daily life at school. Facebook was a better application and provided a more sophisticated platform for communicating, however lacked the customizability of your profile. No longer were you operating a personal profile, rather with Facebook, you simply give them your data and they stick it in their template. And then parents started joining.

swiley 8y ago
My parents actually made me create a facebook account when I was 14. Before that I never actually used the internet for socializing, it was more a tool for fetching compilers and programming tutorials and occasionally doing research for school projects. For me at least the web was something you visited with a goal in mind, retrieved the information you wanted after a short search, and left. Perhaps that's typical of preteens.
- dgzl 8y ago
  I think what you're experiencing is actually very atypical.
product50 8y ago
When you are in your late twenties/thirties, having your parents join Facebook is actually great. It allows someone like me, who doesn't actively keep in touch with them, to share my happenings with them as well as stay up to date with theirs. There is nothing I share that I won't want them to view. Agreed that when you are in your teens/early twenties, this is more of an issue which is why Snap etc. are more popular. But once users move to mid twenties/thirties, they go back to Facebook given the type of sharing it enables.

by dgzl 8y ago

swiley 8y ago

My parents actually made me create a facebook account when I was 14. Before that I never actually used the internet for socializing, it was more a tool for fetching compilers and programming tutorials and occasionally doing research for school projects. For me at least the web was something you visited with a goal in mind, retrieved the information you wanted after a short search, and left. Perhaps that's typical of preteens.

dgzl 8y ago
I think what you're experiencing is actually very atypical.

product50 8y ago

When you are in your late twenties/thirties, having your parents join Facebook is actually great. It allows someone like me, who doesn't actively keep in touch with them, to share my happenings with them as well as stay up to date with theirs. There is nothing I share that I won't want them to view. Agreed that when you are in your teens/early twenties, this is more of an issue which is why Snap etc. are more popular. But once users move to mid twenties/thirties, they go back to Facebook given the type of sharing it enables.