Ok, so I feel like I might be one of the last under-30-year-olds on earth without a Facebook account.
I've mainly resisted because I'm just a very private person, but lately I've been reconsidering. I'm starting an RN program in the fall; at orientation they had students who had just finished their first year come talk to us and all seemed to be very enthusiastic about how useful the class Facebook page was. Also, as an introvert I've never been great in the friend-making department and if I'm being totally, pathetically honest I guess I'm afraid of feeling sort of generally left out as well.
I guess what I'm asking is:
1) Do you feel like connecting with classmates on Facebook was genuinely helpful to you as a nursing student?
and
2) Is it true that employers look at Facebook when hiring? I'd never post drunken photos or friend patients or anything stupid like that, but would not having a Facebook page be some sort of a red flag?
Oddly enough, I work for my university and the department that I'm in has a private facebook page for the workers to schedule hours/be in contact. Plus, I was fb friends with my employer way before I was hired! She got to know me through fb and found that I was a responsible and nice person, which is why she gave me a job! Lol
Depending on how you use fb, it can be a great networking tool! The hospital I used to work for is now my main clinical site. I know the staff and kept in touch with them over fb, so I have one up on the other nursing students. ;o)
My class has a private fb page and we love it. We ask each other questions while preparing for tests etc. a couple girls just signed up for fb and just use it for the group. We also set up a google drive account that we all access and upload I info for each other. Technology has its positive and negative aspects but in nursing school use all the tools you can!
A closed class facebook group can be beneficial and joining that has nothing to do with the school as long as you as aware of their electronic policies if they have one. For me it helps because sometimes other students share ideas about assignments or maybe post an assigment that may have slipped my mind. My interaction and photos on facebook is very limited. I use lots of privacy blocks so people can't share crazy stuff to my timeline and I will probably delete it once I become an RN...just too much nosey employers outthere.
You're not the only one. I'm 19. Don't have a Facebook, Twitter, or anything else. I'm a very private person also and just not into it. Never have been, never will be.
When you sign up for FB you have to give them some personal information like an email and phone number. I do have FB, but have several friends in law enforcement and they say that it is dangerous as people can learn way to much about you. If I had it to do again I would not have joined it. I do have very tight security on it and people at work have said they can't find me. That's good. But you can be found by going into someones FB page that doesn't have good security and find the person you are looking for. So it is pretty easy to find me anyway.
Additionally, I have a friend who got fired for a response to a very neutral thing I posted. I said I was studying for upcoming tests to keep my spot in our unit, and she made a remark that got her fired.
There are lots of games you can access without being on FB. Rely on your educational facilities pages to get your info. Just because someone in your class posted it on FB doesn't mean it is correct.
For those who do have Facebook, one privacy setting many do not know is enable on by default is it adds your name to the big search engines like google. To change that go to the privacy tab settings and change "Do you want search engines to link to your timeline to off" . Google your name periodically to see what comes up. Its better to know what is already out there than to be ignorant.
I keep wondering how do people get fired for posts that are supposedly to friends and relatives? Because post do not necessarily get broadcast to the world unless you set them as public or someone in your "friends" shares it as public. Obviously there are lots of snitches on Facebook. So do not add people unless you know them 1000% AND MY personal motto is NEVER ADD COWORKERS PERIOD!
Being an immigrant it is my view that these firings are clearly not in line with the American ideal of "Freedom of Speech" and I guess that is a topic for another thread.
Another thing I do is every month or so I purge my facebook posts and delete everything. Its time consuming and you have no idea who shares your posts but it does prevent people from keeping a picture of your entire timeline of your life...well of what you want them to know anyways.
Another thing I do is every month or so I purge my facebook posts and delete everything. Its time consuming and you have no idea who shares your posts but it does prevent people from keeping a picture of your entire timeline of your life...well of what you want them to know anyways.
Not trying to start anything but if you have to do all of this then why do you have FB?
OP I guess there are pros and cons to FB. I just don't like everyone knowing what I'm doing nor do I care about everything everyone else is doing.
Hmm, I certainly get why some people like it but I think I'm going to continue to maintain a Facebook-free lifestyle. I'm a meticulous note-taker and tend to evade study groups so I'm not sure that it would be all that helpful to me as a nursing student - I guess I'll just have to force myself to socialize the old-fashioned way.
I like Facebook. I enjoy it as a way to keep in touch with people I otherwise might not, and also I like being able to see what people are up to and share what I am doing.
I do not post anything I don't want people to see. I don't accept friend requests from people I don't know, and if we NEVER interact, I do cut the list down every so often.
I don't talk about work except for a few very vague things (usually "that was a tough day -- thankful for my awesome coworkers!"). As long as you don't share what you don't want to share and keep your friends list to people you know, Facebook can be fun.
EDIT: I need to add, make sure your settings are all set to "friends". The only thing you can't make friends only is a cover photo, which is optional. If everything is set to friends, the general public can only see your name and a small thumbnail of your profile picture.
thelema13
263 Posts
Facebook is EVIL, just like Monsanto and WalMart.