It's been awhile!

Okay after thinking about this post, I'm gonna rephrase some stuff because I think it sounded a little harsher than I intended...Now it probably just sounds like rambling but at least I put my thoughts down! 

Probably everyone has given up on reading this blog now!  I was a faithful updater for a few weeks at least.  :)  Actually we had some life stuff happened and I needed to wrap my head around a lot of it before I felt like blogging again. That's actually closely related to my topic for today. 

Technology today with Facebook, blogs, Twitter, instant messaging (do people still do that?) reveals much about a person, perhaps too much.  I am all for Facebooking...I love it.  It helps me stay connected to my far away family and friends.  It helps me make plans to meet up with friends!  It helps me take a stand for my God.  But there are some downfalls to Facebook and other social sites. 

Of course there are some safety scares that I'm not going to deal with in this post.  But those are definitely something to be aware of.

But there is also something about revealing personal things that cheapens real relationships and true feelings.  And you can't ever see a person's face or hear their voice on Facebook when they are *talking* about these personal feelings to know how serious they are or how heavy this weighing on them. 

I am not trying to step on any toes, but I know I personally need to really consider the kind of stuff I am allowing people to be part of by posting on Facebook.  If I wouldn't tell people I casually have a sort of friendship with or knew in high school or our kids met and played together on an airplane ride once the info that I am posting, then in my opinion, I shouldn't be posting it.  Because let's face it...that's what many of our "friends" are on Facebook.  Casual acquaintences, people we "sort of" know or met.  At least mine are.

I face a true dilemma in wanting to be honest and revealing too much as I know many of you do too.  I do know a few things...
*I cannot stand the bullying that goes on with high school kids/middle school kids on social networking sites.
*I never want my daughter to be asked out on a date on Facebook.  :)  I say that makes it WAYYY too easy on the boy!
*I don't like my kids being in pictures of people I don't know because then their pics go to other people I don't know, etc.
*I cringe when I read about real things people are going through on Facebook.  My honest thought is that these people are crying out for attention.  But it's hard to tell again, cause you can't hear tone, etc.  And sometimes I get really really worried when I see a status update that is very vague but scary like an obvious cry for help.
*I don't want to find out big news about people I'm close to on Facebook.  I feel like that makes the relationship seem less significant.  Again, this is just my preference. 
*I don't want computer time to ever take away from family time or my time with God.
*I think Facebook CAN be used to request prayers and certainly I pray for things that I wouldn't have known to pray for through Facebook. 
*I think people should be very careful about revealing things about other people on Facebook.  When someone has news to tell and you tell it on Facebook, that is the same as telling all their friends and family before they get to.  I have seen that happen and it's sad!  People should be able to announce their own exciting news (engagements, births, pregnancies, names of children, etc.) and decide for themselves what they want to reveal for all to see.
*There are some things that I flat out feel are too personal for my Facebook/blogs.  Others may choose to put personal info on their blogs.  But there are some things that in protection for my family I choose not to talk about.

What about you?  How do you feel about social networking sites and revealing too much about your family?  Do you think it matters?  Again, these are just my off the top of my head thoughts, and I changed some of the wordings because they did sound a little harsh and in a couple places conveyed something different from what my actual thought was. 
What about protections for your kids?  How do protect them from the *stuff* you don't like on Facebook?
In the end OF COURSE, it's a personal decision you make for yourself and for your own family.  And not one we should judge others for...of course I just admitted I do make judgements when I shouldn't as I think others do too.  It's hard not to when status updates are intended for other people to read but yet not read TOO much into. :)  I think that's my real point, that we are raising a generation that is more "exposed" than ever before and how/should we protect them from that?