social media

Sticking it to the (Instagram) man

December 20, 2012

Like a lot of people, I deleted the Instagram app (and all the mediocre photos I’d taken with it) after reading about Facebook’s new terms of service. At first reading, the new TOS made it sound like anybody who uses the app is a mindless tool who exists solely to consume ads and provide free [...]

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Too many stars and too much history

June 19, 2012

I can’t get all smug about the Twitter people who know nothing of Paul McCartney, Dick Clark and Rodney King, and who are unaware that the film Titanic was based on actual events. It’s not that I don’t enjoy making fun of people who are dumber than I am; I do, very much. And it’s [...]

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Every call is a wakeup call

June 14, 2012

I do think mobile phones are changing how people relate to each other. But maybe it’s not such a bad thing. Tonight a young couple parked in front of my house, no doubt intending some quality time at the wine bar across the street. They were both good-looking, both in their mid-20s, both smiling when [...]

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Finally, some activity on LinkedIn

June 6, 2012

Actually, it’s good to learn that millions of LinkedIn passwords have been stolen by Russian hacker and leaked online. As far as I know, that’s the first time anyone has had anything to do with my LinkedIn profile since I posted it more than a year ago. Also, if they’re posting the passwords online, maybe [...]

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Some dopamine of one’s own

June 2, 2012

If you were to make a list of things that might really make a difference in your life, quitting Facebook would be way down there. Probably about the same level as quitting American Idol or vowing to clip your toenails more regularly. Which is to say, it can’t hurt. But neither can it make much [...]

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Social media for the antisocial

April 17, 2012

I'm getting social media fatigue. While it all keeps getting bigger and more pervasive and the terms of service keep getting revised in sinister ways, I can never figure out how any of it is supposed to enhance my day-to-day existence. Pinterest, for example. What the hell is a person supposed to do with Pinterest? [...]

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Facebook is no place for valentines

February 14, 2012

A few words about Facebook. After doing without it for a week, I can say that the self-exile didn’t make much difference. At the start it did feel like the loss of some vestigial sense — that third eye that focuses only on other people’s minutiae — but the feeling quickly faded. At this moment [...]

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I can quit Facebook anytime I like …

February 7, 2012

I spend too much time on Facebook. I admit it. I don’t contribute much, but I’m always on there seeing what everybody else is up to. The other day a Facebook acquaintance posted to ask if anyone else had found themselves bored and deciding to check Facebook before realizing they were already on the site. [...]

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Bullet-sized morsels of WWII

February 2, 2012

My son, a student of military history, sent me this link, in which the daily events of World War II are posted to Twitter as though a remarkably omniscient observer had managed to find a smart phone and a decent service provider in 1940. The typical tweet goes like this: “Soviet bombers are attacking Finnish [...]

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Sorry, Joe. We thought you were dead

January 22, 2012

I was glad to see those greatly exaggerated reports of Joe Paterno’s death. Not because I had any ill will toward Paterno, but because I like seeing this gilded sparrow we call Twitter sometimes crash into a brick wall. And I like the fleeting embarrassment of the Twitterati while the little feathers fall gently to [...]

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