Social Networking

I am an educated person. To keep up with world events I keep my eye on Reuters, The Financial Times, The NYT electronic edition, France 24 (on my satellite downfeed) along with Deutsche Welle and the Russian news program. I thought I was up-to-date regarding everything in the world of PCs including software. There is a person lurking in the shadows. His name is Jack; and I don't know Jack.
Jack, to me, is this world of social computing which is taking up tons of room on our phone lines, satellites, and wireless LAN connections. From the rocket scientist flying down I4 on the way to Tampa from Orlando with a phone in his or her hand, pressing the buttons as fast as the mile-markers pass by and completely oblivious to the eighteen wheeler that has just pulled into the space in front in the center lane..............to the person at home with a desktop PC now using up to one TB in the hard drive just to keep all the pictures, music, and junk which we used to stuff into drawers, I am a complete stranger.
Why, in this age of stolen identities, would I want to post all of my families' private vacation photos up in the ether where not just my own friends but anyone can see them? Worse than that, the identity thief just has to read about Jorge Gonzalez a little bit to be able to put all the pictures together with names and faces. Down the road, the thief will find that Jorge has conveniently left hints, clues, or even just the plain old password for him somewhere in the miasma of social networking.
I thought email was a great idea.....ten years ago. Now it is a place where things have to be erased and monitored so as not to come back to the account at the end of the day and find a friend's email drowning in 99 other postings of just...let's face it...pure garbage. Only a few days ago, I took my personal email addresses (people) and separated them off to one server. The original online email account will stay active only to continue serving me with inquries I might have regarding a product or service. The third mail program (I use Mandriva Linux and can leave these up on virtual desktops so that when I log off, they are still ready for me when I come back) will be used solely for my DSL carrier's email service. Theoretically I can have five different addresses with them, but I will not make any more changes. I am happy with the correction I have made.
Then there's FLOCK. When and If I get someone to point me in the direction of a logical and understandable instruction manual for this thing I will get back to you. Until then....
Tony