Facebook

[steve-in-kville]

My wife & I have an account. We use it to keep in communications with family across the globe.

A lot of people say this. I guess people don’t have email, phones, envelopes, and postage anymore?

If you think I'm making this up, I'll give you a real run for your money. Hint: it involves subterranean lizard people

[Grace]

Facebook is like everything else we have in our world. We can use it for good or evil. From the knives in our kitchen, our vehicles, our computers, the internet, etc. I have a Facebook account, but spend very little time on it. The time I do spend is to update on obituaries, births, some of the latest Anabaptist news. Just recently the son of some distant acquaintances of ours, was in a horrific accident on the PA. turnpike, in one of the tunnels, and it was announced on Facebook. The news brought me into a time of prayer for the young man and his parents, as I know they are going through a very trying time, and for healing of their son and the friend he was with.

That being said, there is a lot of unnecessary stuff and drivel posted on Facebook. It also does create an avenue for people to brag and show off.

[steve-in-kville]

That being said, there is a lot of unnecessary stuff and drivel posted on Facebook. It also does create an avenue for people to brag and show off.

I agree. We have "friends" on Facebook that became too much of a drama queen/king. I had to "unfollow" their content as it was taking up too much space on my news feed.

[ken_sylvania]

My wife & I have an account. We use it to keep in communications with family across the globe.

A lot of people say this. I guess people don’t have email, phones, envelopes, and postage anymore?

I write a friend in prison in Pennsylvania frequently. Snail mail costs $.66 plus the cost of the envelope, and the time to write or type and put in mailbox. It takes days to reach the mail processing facility in Florida, which photocopies the mail piece in black and white and sends the photocopy to the inmate, a process which takes a number of additional days.

PA has an inmate messaging system, similar to email, which costs $25 per message. They get the message as soon as they check their account at the jail kiosk, with a slight delay for the institution to approve the message. Often they get it the same day.

Guess which I like to do?

Perhaps your time is valuable enough and you have been successful enough at business that you can afford to pay twenty-five dollars per message to use the inmate messaging system?

If you were a real Mennonite, you'd write your letter longhand and give it to your cousin to hand to the deacon at his church who will be visiting someone else at the correctional facility who can then give it to the intended recipient....... OK maybe that doesn't work since their's a prison involved.

[mike]

A lot of people say this. I guess people don’t have email, phones, envelopes, and postage anymore?

I write a friend in prison in Pennsylvania frequently. Snail mail costs $.66 plus the cost of the envelope, and the time to write or type and put in mailbox. It takes days to reach the mail processing facility in Florida, which photocopies the mail piece in black and white and sends the photocopy to the inmate, a process which takes a number of additional days.

PA has an inmate messaging system, similar to email, which costs $25 per message. They get the message as soon as they check their account at the jail kiosk, with a slight delay for the institution to approve the message. Often they get it the same day.

Guess which I like to do?

Perhaps your time is valuable enough and you have been successful enough at business that you can afford to pay twenty-five dollars per message to use the inmate messaging system?

Yikes. I meant $.25! My bad.

[Neto]

My wife & I have an account. We use it to keep in communications with family across the globe.

A lot of people say this. I guess people don’t have email, phones, envelopes, and postage anymore?

I originally got on for the same reason, but specifically because most of my family members had abandoned both letter writing AND email, which had largely replaced the first. Overseas telephone calls were never reasonable, and my wife's parents were the only ones who ever called us. (In later years, directly to the village, via sat phone, at $2.99 per minute. Not long calls....)

Now I mostly hear from family through either FaceBook, or by text message. I seldom get calls anymore, except from my mom. (She receives emails, but doesn't type, so never sends any.) A very few distant relatives write once or twice a year, usually at Christmas time. (Like one of my Dad's 2nd cousins, who writes annually, but more than just a Christmas card.)

I am on FaceBook closed groups for both sides of my family, where lots of photos are posted from my remaining Aunts & Uncles, and cousins, nephews, & nieces, and also grand nephews & nieces. Not too much from children of my cousins, but occasionally. I also belong to a Plautdietsch history and genealogy group on FB, as well as some old car & metal-working groups. We also see updates from missionaries we support financially, mostly now the children of our former co-workers, who have no themselves returned to the mission work with their own families. Oh, I also hear from (or about) various former classmates, from the public school, the Bible institute, and the Bible college. Then also from some second cousins, most of whom I haven't seen since my teen years, but whom I knew well back then. I actually have more to do with 2nd cousins than I do with many of my own 1st cousins, because my two brothers & I are the oldest, and many of the others are 20 years or more younger.

[steve-in-kville]

If you were a real Mennonite, you'd write your letter longhand and give it to your cousin to hand to the deacon at his church who will be visiting someone else at the correctional facility who can then give it to the intended recipient....... OK maybe that doesn't work since their's a prison involved.

^^^ That ain't no joke.

[mike]

If you were a real Mennonite, you'd write your letter longhand and give it to your cousin to hand to the deacon at his church who will be visiting someone else at the correctional facility who can then give it to the intended recipient....... OK maybe that doesn't work since their's a prison involved.

Speaking of prisons, I was in one the other day for a visit, and this was the dessert option in the vending machine in the visiting room.

I am NOT making this up!

[Soloist]

We have an exception for Facebook at our church. We named our dog that.
Actually we’re currently arguing whether or not we can name the dog lizard.
My wife is almost rolling on the floor. I have ruined her walking

[Soloist]

My wife & I have an account. We use it to keep in communications with family across the globe.

A lot of people say this. I guess people don’t have email, phones, envelopes, and postage anymore?

I write a friend in prison in Pennsylvania frequently. Snail mail costs $.66 plus the cost of the envelope, and the time to write or type and put in mailbox. It takes days to reach the mail processing facility in Florida, which photocopies the mail piece in black and white and sends the photocopy to the inmate, a process which takes a number of additional days.

PA has an inmate messaging system, similar to email, which costs $25 per message. They get the message as soon as they check their account at the jail kiosk, with a slight delay for the institution to approve the message. Often they get it the same day.

Guess which I like to do?

Wife: I’ve used an inmate messaging system, and I would think that’s a lot more similar to email than Facebook. You have to find the specific inmate and get approved, so that seems like apples to oranges.