ARE FACEBOOK AND THE INTERNET GOOD OR BAD?

Play this two minute podcast

She grimaced when she warned me of the risks of teenage girls being on Facebook.  I was attending a birthday party for my three year old grandson, Eric, in Atlanta.  The woman, who works with abused children, is a friend of my son.  She explained that older men get on Facebook, prepare a bogus profile pretending to be a teenage boy… gain the girl’s trust and make arrangements to meet…putting the girl at risk.  I guess this is what we see on Dateline NBC’s To Catch a Predator.  She said she would never allow her children on Facebook.

A few minutes earlier I had been talking with her husband.  He is a doctor who is currently doing some teaching at Emory Medical School.  He was telling me how the Internet has changed the teaching of medicine.  He said when students used to work in the emergency room; they would try to memorize the protocol for any given situation, but would have indexed pamphlets to look up information. 

 Now he says, the students whip out their cell phone, Google a question and are able to begin the treatment of the patient in less than five seconds. 

 So are Facebook and the Internet good or bad?  Well, the answer is obviously some of each. 

 Here I was visiting with friends and family 150 miles from home.  Much of my interactions and conversations were the result of us following one another on Facebook.  I’ve known my son’s friend, the doctor, since he was a little boy.  But only seeing him on occasion, what did we have in common? His first comment to me when we shook hands was, “I notice you are active in social media”…setting up our discussion. 

 I follow the pictures and postings of my daughter-in-law in Atlanta and her Mom who lives in Tampa.  I feel closer to both of them because of Facebook—and I imagine they feel a stronger connection to me.  That’s not a bad feeling.

 This is David Sher, your e-networking guy, saying it’s not what you know, but whOO you know.

Click “Read More” to the right to make comments.