Get off my lawn!

[icepixie]

Dear God. Apparently Google wants to be the next Facebook. Their campaign appears to be based on, "We have all the features of Facebook, but unlike those fools, we have PRIVACY. Sooo much privacy! You know who's got privacy? We do! Look at all this privacy up in here!" Plus features that I didn't pay much attention to because I don't have a smart phone.*

I truly believe that one day, we will wake up to find that Google has taken over the governments of every nation on Earth, and has a unified world government in beta.



* One day in not too many years, a cell phone that's more computer than voice-transmission device is going to be required to join modern society, much in the way landlines were in the middle of the twentieth century and computers with internet access are becoming now, aren't they? Ugh. I don't deny they're handy, but I reject the notion of being accessible at all times on principle. I might be doing nothing more than staring at a wall in my free time, but it's still mine, and not to be infringed upon. As well, I've really grown to dislike the experience of trying to talk someone when they're interrupted by texts every twenty seconds. It's so rude! I just want to slap the phone out of people's hands when they do that.

...I have officially turned into an old lady.

Comments

[nickless.livejournal.com]

I just tell people sorry, I still have a DumbPhone, 'cause it's essentially true. I don't even have a keypad for texting (*gasp*!) and I'm perfectly okay with that. It takes me forever to tap out a reply on the rare occasion that I do, and no matter how many times I freaking tell people I DON'T HAVE FREE TEXTING, that seems to be inconceivable because merely texting them back to acknowledge I got the message seems to make them think "oooh, I'll just KEEP TEXTING HER!" No, I only texted you because you're at work and can't answer a call. It said "Call me when you're done re: dinner", not "Text me back immediately with more questions I can't/don't want to answer right now!" Aaaargh.

I'm with you - I think my main problem is that because it "allows" me to pay attention to someone at a moment's notice, the attitude seems to be that I MUST pay attention to someone at a moment's notice. (Okay, and the fact that the students seem to think they cannot physically survive without their phone in their hands.) Dear God, how did we EVER survive when you had to find a PAY PHONE to contact someone when you were away from home?

As far as FB vs. Google, I am Wary. FB started out all "oooh, we won't invade your privacy!", too. And like you said, Google is a lot more... far-reaching. I saw this graphic (http://i.imgur.com/OlaR9.png) on Tumblr* tonight and it basically sums up my reluctance to switch (besides the whole bandwagon quality of it all).

*I got a Tumblr account a couple of months ago to follow a few threads. I also created a Twitter account at the same time. So far I've made one total post to each. Basically, I putter around the damn things feeling clueless...

I remember when fandom was mailing lists that weren't through YahooGroups or whatever they were before it. I remember reading 800+ posts per day to the Space: Above & Beyond list on a computer that didn't have a mouse. *sigh*

[icepixie]

Yeah, I don't have free texting either, so I never use it. This routinely shocks people.

I think my main problem is that because it "allows" me to pay attention to someone at a moment's notice, the attitude seems to be that I MUST pay attention to someone at a moment's notice.

Yes! Yes, I hate that!

FB started out all "oooh, we won't invade your privacy!", too.

Did they, though? 2004 is pretty hazy to me now, but I remember being able to see quite a bit of my profile when logged out, even when I privacied it up to the max. Though I agree, I wouldn't trust any service's claims to privacy, even Google's. That graphic is an excellent reason why.

I got a Tumblr a couple weeks ago, purely so I could track a bunch of tags. A couple of my fandoms seem to exist primarily over there, alas.

I remember when fandom was mailing lists that weren't through YahooGroups or whatever they were before it.

There were definitely advantages to that, although I like LJ-style fandom too. I miss having a central place to discuss a show with a bunch of people, instead of having multiple one-on-one conversations scattered across LJ.

...OMG, 800 posts. And I thought 250 a day with Kenyon's allstu was bad.

[nickless.livejournal.com]

FB started out all "oooh, we won't invade your privacy!", too.
Did they, though?

I think the key is one's definition of privacy. It's always touted as "oooh, lookit this awesome new way to connect with your 1,876 closest friends, and you don't even have to lift a finger!" that becomes "wait, you DON'T want people to know that? Huh..." I seriously don't think they actually consider it a privacy issue.

purely so I could track a bunch of tags.

Yep, that was the reason for me, too. If I can up and admit that I'm in it for the pretties, might as well go where the medium is visual.


I miss having a central place to discuss a show with a bunch of people

Yeah, it was amazing when EVERYONE was on one listserv. (Listserv! That's what it was!!) Space-l was routinely 500+ posts per day (that's where I came to appreciate the Wonder & Beauty of Snip & Combine), then right after an ep it would explode. Looking back, it kinda blows my mind... And everything was together - on-topic, off-topic, fic, conversations between 2-3 people.... It was like with the shipper list - people thought I was insane for going off to meet people *gasp* from the Internet!, but I was like dude, nobody's going to put effort into following this unless they're truly interested. An axe murderer is gonna find lower-maintenance targets. *g*

[icepixie]

I seriously don't think they actually consider it a privacy issue.

Yeah, I agree, particularly since that brouhaha where Zuckerberg e-mailed someone to say he thought privacy was stupid or whatever that was all about. I remember them suggesting they didn't care about privacy kind of from the beginning, though.

If I can up and admit that I'm in it for the pretties, might as well go where the medium is visual.

It's not even really that I'm in it for the pretties--although they're nice--it's that I simply can't find (enough) fandom for some things I watch on LJ. I would prefer fic and long discussion posts or essays, but if pictures are all they've got, I'll take pictures.

An axe murderer is gonna find lower-maintenance targets.

Exactly. :D