It is the most recent picture of me, taken by my daughter in law at the Huntington Chinese Gardens in San Marino, California, last month. My husband and grandchild are in the background. If anyone visited me on Facebook, they'd get this look, my usual attire, my hairdo and eyeglasses I still sport and might even recognize hubby back there. He hasn't changed at all!
I could upgrade my picture, show a younger me, one more recognizable by those friends I have not seen in more than a decade. But then, whom am I kidding? I don't want anyone to think I had work done on my already perfect body. Yeah!
Facebook has allowed me to reconnect with a couple of people from my last work place, and even find a new cousin! Most of all, Facebook lets me know what others are doing.
When my son became engaged, he called me from Philadelphia and said:
"Mom, I wanted you to know before we post our announcement on Facebook!"
"Thanks, son. I appreciate that!"
And there is the rub! Sometimes, when we read something on Facebook that should private and privileged among family members, it rubs us the wrong way.
What? The world knows about this, and I'm the last one to read about it?
I know people now that post daily!
I know people that never post.
I know people who never shared anything familiar before, suddenly posting intimate pictures and events all over every body's walls.
Yeah, it's back at Young Scholar High! Only now it's a game everyone can play.
I've stopped following people on Blogger because I know what they write through Facebook!
I'm beginning to see the attraction.
I'm regretting the time it takes.
I'm re-assessing the benefits of it all.
Oh well!
People said the same thing about Blogger. And before that, about email. Before that, about cell phones. And before that, about every new tool and invention to ease communication.
My goodness!
In my younger years, a continent away, we walked out of our houses at sunset to hear the town crier beat his drum and announce the births, the deaths, the weddings, the circus coming to town.
The excitement is the same.
39 comments:
I would love to go back to the town crier. The REAL face to face; the sense of community. It just doesn't feel the same through Blogger and Facebook. But for me, being so housebound, these social media sites do help. I guess it's what you call a Catch 22.
I always enjoy your posts!
p.s. And like you, I believe in posting the "real" picture. This one is me as I am now, on my best camera day!
And I love this picture of you. Thanks for just being you!
1. Your picture looks great! I'd be poud to post it too and those that used to know you have to be impressed with how good you look.
2. Agree again, Rosaria, about posting too much info on Facebook. At first I signed up because it was suggested by a professional organization I belong to as a way of communication and strength for the group. (I have never seen anything more about it since I signed up!) The it became interesting to see old classmates, longago friends etc. Now I hardly ever look at it, hate Farmville and get tons of requests about it...yuck! I'm sure for younger folks, it is useful and fun. I prefer to blog about family and use that as a journal tool to preserve memories for them.
Think I really am getting O.L.D!!
I love your photo .. it is candid and honest. Like YOU!
I'm on FB but don't do a lot with it. I do post my blogs from time to time. Keep up with family, support a few causes dear to my heart.
Have a lovely weekend, Rosaria ...
I used to post religiously to Facebook until they changed the amount of privacy you can have. Yahoo betrayed me too by taking a critique I made of a doctor after my miscarriage and posting it to all of my contacts some of which I didn't want to know I was pregnant to begin with =/ now I hate both
I have been on FB since 2008 when a reunited high school pal dragged me there under protest with great skepticism on my part. It has reunited me with so many people; but it is brevity and the blog is for writing. Grand picture, don't change it we can all be real and still have fun
Not crazy about FB at all. I have had some bad experiences on there. I even deleted my first account. Went back a second time. I must be masochistic or something. Frankly, I'd rather follow blogs. I get more out of them. FB just seems trivial at most.
I love the pic! It's good to see a current you and know who's in my blogging community.
I'm on FB also. I have reconnected with people who knew my name when I was growing up and during my first marriage. I lost my address book during a move in the 80s and FB was the answer.
My husband and I have eight children between us and about 40 nieces and nephews. We like knowing what's going on with them.
I post my blogs to my FB account to avoid repeating myself.
All in all, it's all good.
I love facebook because it gives me the opportunity to see photos of my nieces and newphews and their children whom I don't get to see very often!
i dumped FB a couple months ago...really dont miss it...sure it was good to connect but...
and i think you look fine inthe pic...smiles.
A great picture. I haven't posted my picture there. I haven't found a way to deny anyone from copying it and using it for something else. When I do, I'll post it. My blog has a picture with sunglasses though. And, I enjoy fb because of the contacts with people that I haven't heard from in years and probably wouldn't hear about if it weren't here. I don't play games and all that stuff.
Have a great day.
I just recently got involved with everything, email, blogging and Facebook. The one thing I like about facebook is the quick connect I can have with cousins and old freinds that I wouldn't normally have since we are all spread out over the country. But, I can do without the "Just poured myself a cup of coffee" posts!Thanks for another great post!
Rosaria, your photo is great! I like the idea that if I ever saw you in an airport, I'd recognize you and could say hi! I used to have a facebook account, but never did much with it and I quit. Blogging takes up alot of time and I do enjoy reading everyone's posts, especially yours because you make me think and keep it all real!
Love your picture, Rosaria! Facebook has its uses, but I must confess I'm not a frequent visitor. I had a FB page set up because my high school class is gearing up for its 50th reunion in two years. I went to a small Catholic girls school that was, at the time, mostly a boarding school and nearly half my classmates were from out of the country. So Facebook has allowed me to reconnect with some beloved, long-lost classmates from El Salvador, Costa Rica and Mexico as well as the U.S. But I dislike all the strange games. And also there were some friends who would send me long and personal emails before and now I just read their generic news on Facebook. Not the same. And, of course, not the same as a face-to-face with a friend or family member. Would love to hear a town crier again!
That is a great picture and blue is really your color.
I have resisted FB and probably will continue to do so.
I find with phones and emails, I am in close contact with those who matter. Those who were once important to me I have kept in my life. For those who aren't in my life, there is probably good reason.
I have talked to friends & even Blogger about this as well.
First, love the photo. You are a Dear♥
2nd, I gave Facebook up for Lent.. (1 week left). I know it sounds silly, a 48 yr old woman that is/was addicted to facebook. But. I do try to give up something that I am spending too much attention with that maybe time better spent. I always seem to feel the need to comment and, well, embarrassingly, I was on it several times a day. When I lost my job, I started wasting time creeping on friends as well as chit chatting about too much. It was a good thing to give up! I learned I can live without it. I am looking forward to rejoining FB, however, will now spend less time with it.
It is amazing how we, particularly our young adults, are seeming to lose the art of face to face communication, however, I do love the instant connection when needed (as when my friend passed, once family & close friends were notified, we put out on FB his arrangements and it was quite joyful, especially, for his teen son, to have so many people show up and reach out. Also, I must say I am thrilled to reconnect to so many old school chums from way back when.
As for my photo on FB, I think I put up a silly dog in bunny ears. I cant remember! However, anyone that is friends with me can browse my photo albums to see the real me.
Rosiara~ I love you dearly & very grateful for our Blogging and Facebook friendship. You make me think, you make me smile. You give me hope and I appreciate your post so much.
sorry to ramble! I do that sometimes♥
I have found myself often talking about social media with friends and family, who don't get it. Although, it is hard for many people to believe, a lot of people are communicating in a way, that is not possible face to face. There is a lot of communication happening.
Like in real life, you come across all sorts of communicators, like the ones who communicate way too much, or not at all. It's not much different in real life.
A great post. Great photo too.
Sometimes people I know and like post things on FB that hit me the wrong way. But, I do like FB because I look at pages for local organizations and know what's going on in the community. Plus, I have reconnected with a few old friends. Games like Farmville -- I just hide the posts.
I do like your picture and totally agree that blue is your color. As for FB -- I am enjoying the contact with nephews and nieces and my sisters and my cousins. It is necessary though to learn about privacy options and also to update your url security from http:// to https://. Go to Account - Account Settings - Account Security - click Change. Check box (secure browsing), click Save. FB has automatically set it on the ...non-secure setting! This is to prevent your account from being hacked.
Facebook has been great for reconnecting with folks from long ago.
Joyce
http://joycelansky.blogspot.com
I like both venues for different purposes. FB is for reconnecting and quick updates. My blog is for more in depth writing. As a fairly new reader of your blogs, I must say I enjoy them very much, and I hope you continue them.
As for your picture .... as everyone says, it is a great picture. I also like pictures of me as I really am. I've occasionally put an older photo on FB for a purpose, but I usually have one of my recent pictures as my profile.
Great photo! The older I get the more accepting I am ..of me right now!
I like facebook ...keep in touch with friends I don't get to see AND reconnected with 8 old school friends I had not spoken to for 40 years! It has been SUCH a blessing. xx
Lookin' good, Rosaria...you look exactly like your words. Authentic.
Your picture is awesome. I like. You looked wise and yet pondering. I guess with wisdom, comes craving for deeper understanding.
Facebook to me are for personal friend but I am not as attracted to facebook as I am to blogging. I have always wondered why.
The thing is, my children had been there and done that with all, blog, facebook, twitter. They are now just sticking with games with close friends on skype.
Interesting post! I deleted my first facebook account, and then after a year or so opened another one when I heard some news about one of my boys from my sister who saw it on FB! Now we have only a few friends - who are actually meaningful ones - on there. Much better situation for me, personally, this way. The idea of FB taking the place of the town crier is marvellous!
Great photo by the way, and I also love the earlier pic of the young engaged couple with the dog...
Nah I do not connect my blog to my FB. Two totally different mediums for two completely different purposes. But then I just sniff around on FB and post my being on blogger.
it's a great picture.
You're what my mother used to call a "handsome" woman. You look at home in your body and I like that. My FB photo is from within the last year- I figure we earn the right to just be ourselves! Besides my daughter in Trinidad while I'm in Italy, I have 8 nieces and 3 nephews as well as cousins and their kids so I like FB as a quick way to keep up with everyone. Blogs are for the more in depth sharing but both have a place in my new and expanded world.
FB and blogging serve different purposes, tho', don't they?
FB is for keeping up with old friends.
Blogging is to make new friends.
FB is for news and updates.
Blogging is for thinking out loud.
What I don't get is why anyone would twitter.
What a wonderful photo! You look very calm and complacent. :) I actually just created a Facebook Page for my blog today...it is crazy how fast technology has grown and expanded over the course of just a few years. It is hard for even me, a college student, to keep up with everything that's going on!
~TRA
http://xtheredangelx.blogspot.com
Glad I found you. I turned 60 last June and have not retired yet. (Reading Specialist in a school) I love writing and do a lot of it. And I too am learning about all these new technology things. I do Facebook pretty well, and use the internet for email but I balked at the I-Phone. I do have a cell phone but it just calls people and I might do a few text messages to my sons on it. But as I told my sons, a phone is a phone and I don't want it to do all this other stuff that can go wrong! Nice to meet you.
I have found that I like Facebook. It helps me keep up with a lot of folks about whom I do care and, with limited time, would find it impossible to do, otherwise, especially my Royal Caribbean crew friends from all over the world.
I even enjoy some of the games!
I love blogging and facebook and email and anything that keeps me in touch with friends (old and new)!
Love the photo Rosaria. I need to have an updated photo taken of myself but never seem to get around to it.
I don't have any major grievances with FB but then, I don't post all that much. But I do have my blog flow over; that's enough for me most of the time.
i'm trying to imagine you as a young girl, listening to the drumming and town crier in a little italian village. then to think of facebook as being the modern version made me sad.......we've lost such beautiful traditions, all in the name of progress.
the technological highway... speedy little bugger, isn't it.
It is sad in many ways how times have changed :)
still more
Warm Aloha from Honolulu
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