The ethics of slightly used gadgets as presents. Plus, what do you when you send someone a highly insulting text message they weren't meant to see?
What are the rules of giving my older gadgets (i.e. older iPods, iPhones, etc.) away as presents when I buy the newer versions?
New electronic devices just shouldn’t come out as often. There, I said it! I know I’m on a tech blog and everything but like, how much difference between the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 5 can there REALLY be? (*appalled crickets*) Why are all our greatest tech-genius brains focusing so much effort on making our iPhone screens just a little bigger when Willy Wonka’s teleporter prototype has been sitting around unattended to since 1971? And what about pillows that videotape your dreams so you can watch them like movies? “Pillodeos.” Whatever, we can brainstorm the branding later.
Since you, unlike me, seem to enjoy the battle to stay current with your electronics, giving away the castoffs (like your essentially UNUSABLE four-month-old iPad) is a very nice thing to do. We should all be so lucky to have friends like you! Seriously: be my friend and mail me your tech toys. I would say that the main rule here is to only give these things away as informal gifts, on days with no special occasion, just because you're being generous and like a person. Anything you’ve previously purchased for yourself cannot be given as a present for any officially recognized holiday (i.e. Christmas or a birthday), and that’s true even with cool things like iPhones. This is not to say that “formal” gifts have to cost money, because they don’t! They can be handmade and wonderful. They just can’t be things originally intended for someone else (you). Even if it’s an iPod. Even if it’s a Pillodeo.
Is it at all acceptable to send a wee private Facebook message to somebody that you like, but don't really know, but have found out his/her name through the sign-in sheet at a lecture…I really wish this was acceptable and not creepy. :(
The cutest part of your question is “somebody that you like, but don’t really know.” Don’t “really” know? Or, given that you have only JUST learned his/her name, don’t know AT ALL? Giiirrrrrrrrrlllllll. I understand you. If the proper path to love is getting to know someone BEFORE you fall for your idea of him/her, then I am always taking the road less traveled by. It has made all the difference, in that it is really dimly lit and spooky and embarrassing and, well, if most people don’t go this way then there is probably a reason for that.
The problem with contacting a stranger is that the way he receives it is totally dependent on what he’s like and what he thinks of you when he checks out your profile after reading your message. You two don’t know each other, so you have no basis with which to judge your own chances or reception. There IS a chance that he (or anyone) could receive a message like yours, be completely flattered and smitten, and then fall in love with you. But that chance is very, very small. More likely, he will think it’s creepy. More likely than that, he’ll think it’s nice, but not worth pursuing or responding to. He might have a girlfriend or a boyfriend, you know! Strangers do that all the time, it’s awful.
I think Facebook gives people the idea that it’s ok to contact strangers, because profiles are usually pretty easy to find and tons of us have “friends” that we don’t ACTUALLY know. This might be a mistake. If you wouldn’t feel comfortable using the cell number of a stranger (and if you’re wondering, you shouldn’t feel comfortable about this!), then you probably shouldn’t feel comfortable messaging him on Facebook. At LEAST not while you aren’t even fake Internet friends. But look, you’re in college, right? College is a great venue for amateur spy work. Give him a code name (to be safe), enlist the information-gathering services of your friends, and spend your weeks agonizing over how to meet him the good old-fashioned way: off Facebook.
