The affect of social networking on the senior community?

[cartel_molloy]

I am retired and have a Facebook account.

It enables me to keep up with some of the things my Grandkids are up to....therefore helps me a little to understand where they are coming from.

I can also keep in contact with the members of my family and freinds who live a distance away.

I can't be doing with Twitter and Myspace though,

[Wickwire]

The only real negative way it has affected me is people trying to use their phones while driving. So far I've had to think fast and get out of their way as they come on my side of the road. They go by and I can see them on their phones.

[Grumpy Old Git]

I am 61 and grew up in an age when people actually talked to eah other face to face, by voice over the telephone or by handwritten letter.

Social interaction today is far too impersonal for me. People text one another when all they have to do is go next door and talk to them. Employees are even sacked by text and e-mail.

I feel that the modern trend is to be frightened of actual contact, and people like the safety and anonymity that the internet gives them. They can hide behind a dozen avatars and snipe at others without fear of physical retribution.

Whilst modern communications technology is undoubtedly a wonderful medium, we do lose much of what being a real person is all about.

I do not have a Facebook or Twitter account and would not even know how to go about using it.

I'm just not interested.

I'd rather have one or two good personal friends than 200 on Facebook.