“Los smartphones se usan cada vez más para ayudar a las personas a afrontar distintos aspectos de sus vidas. La cuestión es que mientras más los usamos, más dependientes nos volvemos, y en realidad aumentamos el estrés en lugar de aliviarlo”, aclararon los investigadores, especificando de ese modo que el problema no es la tecnología en sí, sino más bien el uso que se hace de ella.

Para comprobar la relación entre la utilización de smartpones y el estrés, Balding y sus colaboradores condujeron pruebas psicométricas de estrés en más de 100 participantes, incluyendo estudiantes universitarios, empleados de tiendas y empleados del sector público. Así, los autores del estudio hallaron que en primera instancia estas personas adquieren los teléfonos para manejar mejor sus obligaciones laborales, aunque con el correr del tiempo terminan cambiando a interacciones más personales y sumando aplicaciones de uso privado con el objetivo principal de mantener el control sobre la red social virtual.

“A medida que esta conducta se vuelve más marcada, crece el nivel de estrés. De hecho se sabe que cuanto más frecuentemente se revisa el celular, más aumenta el estrés. Inclusive en algunos casos la necesidad de mantenerse en contacto puede volverse tan extrema que los usuarios llegan a percibir alertas -por ejemplo vibraciones del teléfono- que no existen”, finalizaron los responsables del estudio.

*Nota de northwestohio.com
Researchers say smartphones stress you out
A group of British researchers warns compulsively checking your smartphone could lead to an increase in your stress level, HealthDay reports.

The study linking smartphones to a rise in stress focuses on the personal use of the devices, not the professional use. Using smartphones for social media and keeping tabs on friends caused more stress than using them for work purposes.

“The more they’re being used the more we’re actually becoming a bit dependent upon them, and actually courting stress instead of relieving it,” study author Richard Balding, a psychologist in the department of psychology at the University of Worcester in England, told HealthDay.

The study conducted psychometric stress tests on more than 100 participants.

Una investigación realizada por la Universidad de Utah, Estados Unidos, reveló que los usuarios que pasan demasiadas horas en la red social pueden sentirse infelices al ver las fotos que comparten sus contactos.

Para el estudio, se les preguntó a 425 estudiantes si estaban de acuerdo o en desacuerdo con frases del estilo “mis amigos tienen una mejor vida que yo” o “la vida es injusta”, después de ver imágenes de usuarios sonriendo, festejando en una disco o paseando por distintas partes del mundo.

El 95 por ciento de los usuarios menores de 23 años afirmó, a partir de dichas preguntas, que se sentía triste al ver que sus amigos eran más felices que ellos mismos. Los investigadores también sostienen que cuanto más tiempo navegan en Facebook, más piensan en los otros y más se deprimen.

“Hace varios años empecé a utilizar Facebook porque varias personas me lo pidieron, y empecé a ver que varios de mis amigos se veían realmente felices. Eso me despertó curiosidad”, explica la socióloga Hui-Tzu Grace Chou, que asegura que realizó el estudio basada en esa experiencia personal.

Según la investigación, el mal humor prevalece entre los usuarios más activos, mientras que los que pasan menos tiempo en esta red social se entristecen menos. El grupo de la Universidad de Utah concluyó que la solución para mejorar el estado de ánimo es dejar lo virtual y tener más interacción física con los verdaderos amigos.

*Nota de voanews.com
On one of the most popular social networking sites Facebook, people tend to present themselves in a favorable way on their profile. Survey concludes some question if others are happier, have better lives.
Research over the past several years shows that heavy users of social media tend to be less happy than non-users. But a new academic study now suggests that social media tools like Facebook can also affect how we perceive the happiness of others.

Students at George Mason University in Virginia were asked how many friends they have on Facebook. “Um, I’ve never actually stopped and looked at it. Probably somewhere between 350 and 400,” responded one student. Another stated, “I would definitely be on Facebook all the time and be like ‘Wow, she’s here, he’s there’.” Finally, a student noted, “I’m a heavy user. I rely a lot on it. I find myself checking it multiple times a day.”Researchers at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah wanted to see if all that time watching people on Facebook affected how users saw – not themselves – but others.

They asked 425 undergraduates if other people have better and happier lives. Then they surveyed those students on their use of Facebook – looking at how long they had been Facebook users or how many hours a week they spend following Facebook friends.

They found the students who were more involved with Facebook were more likely to think other people’s lives were happier and better. This was especially true among students who included more strangers on their Facebook accounts.

Psychologist Tod Kashdan studies happiness and well-being at George Mason University and has read the Utah findings. “They’re hearing all these great things happening from other people and they’re making a downward comparison to themselves. They’re viewing themselves as ‘My life isn’t as interesting or satisfying as other people’s lives look like’,” he explained. The authors of the Utah study say the results may be due to a psychological effect called “correspondence bias”.

That’s when we make judgments about someone based on their disposition or personality while ignoring their actual life circumstances.

In the case of Facebook use, it’s easy to assume Facebook friends are always as happy as they appear on their profiles because they are not posting negative attributes or events, only positive ones.

These students say they had similar feelings about what they saw on Facebook during high-school but that, in college, they are more aware of the effect it has on them.

“I give people the impression that my life is perfect and there’s nothing wrong with it when there is so much [wrong], so it’s really false,” Nicolle May stated. “It’s like someone else completely with my face.”

“I’m aware that whatever people posted on Facebook isn’t necessarily what their entire life is made of. I feel like people put a fake picture of themselves and try to make themselves look a lot better than they actually are in real life when they’re on-line,” Maram Mohamed said.

Psychologists say Facebook and other social media can be valuable tools to connect with people and the world. But that assurance does come with a warning. “Don’t spend a lot of time just looking at other people’s positive events. Share your own and see who are your true friends, who really cares for the things that happen to you,” Kashdan stated.

De acuerdo con los investigadores, revisar las actualizaciones de los usuarios de ambas redes sociales es una tentación más difícil de vencer que el rechazar la invitación a fumar un cigarro o beber una copa.

Esto se debe a que a es posible estar conectado en dichas redes sociales durante las 24 horas del día, y comentar y revisar lo que va apareciendo en la pantalla en tiempo real es una actividad que se ha vuelto tan común como comer o irse a dormir.

La encuesta sobre el manejo de redes sociales que se aplicó a 250 usuarios de éstas para el estudio, derivó que dormir y tener sexo son los principales deseos de las personas, no obstante, fumar o beber han puntuado en escalafones más bajos que las mismas redes sociales, toda vez que la adicción a éstas puede satisfacerse casi de forma inmediata.

Según el líder del estudio, Wilhelm Hofmann, la única forma de vencer esta adicción es resistiendo la tentación para poder tener fuerza de voluntad, y así, poco a poco, será más sencillo dejar de sentirse tentados a revisar las actualizaciones.

*Nota de gulnews.com
Twitter and Facebook, harder to quit than smoking

Researchers claim that while sleep and sex may be stronger urges, people are more likely to give in to longings to use social and other media.

Tweeting or checking emails may be harder to resist than cigarettes, according to researchers who tried to measure how well people could resist their desires.

They even claim that while sleep and sex may be stronger urges, people are more likely to give in to longings to use social and other media.

A team headed by Wilhelm Hofmann of Chicago University’s Booth Business School say their experiment, using BlackBerrys, to gauge the willpower of 205 people aged between 18 and 85 in and around the German city of Würzburg is the first to monitor such responses outside a laboratory.

The results will be published in the journal Psychological Science.

Los hallazgos, que aparecen en la edición del 1 de febrero de la revista “Journal of Neuroscience”, ofrecen una base para la comprensión de la forma en que el humor y otras emociones positivas pueden afectar el bienestar de un niño, según explica el equipo de la Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad de Stanford.

“El humor es un componente muy importante de la salud emocional, ya que mantiene las relaciones, desarrolla la función cognitiva (del cerebro) e incluso quizás la salud médica”, dice el autor principal del estudio, doctor Allan Reiss, director del Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Interdisciplinarias del Cerebro de la Universidad de Stanford. Un sentido del humor fuerte es parte importante de la emoción positiva y podría ayudar a que los niños fueran más resistentes.

Los investigadores escanearon los cerebros de 15 niños de 6 a 12 años de edad mientras veían vídeos cortos que se clasificaron como divertidos, positivos o neutrales. Los escáneres cerebrales mostraron que los vídeos graciosos activan dos regiones del cerebro de los niños que también responden al humor en los adultos pero no están tan desarrollados en los menores. El humor activaba la región mesolímbica de los niños, que procesa las recompensas, y el área temporal-occipital-parietal, que procesa las incongruencias, es decir, cosas que van unidas pero representan opuestos (por ejemplo, un payaso que sale de un coche minúsculo).

Los vídeos positivos activaban el área de procesamiento de la recompensa, pero no el de la incongruencia. Esto sugiere que la incongruencia, algo que sorprende al cerebro, es un factor importante del humor.
*Nota de Stanford Daily

Researchers investigate how humor activates kids’ brains

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have shown that parts of the brain network that react to humor in an adult are already present in children ages six to 12. These neural circuits, while present in children, develop into more sophisticated networks as children mature, according to a statement on the School of Medicine’s website.

The research team studied the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans of six- to 12-year-old children who watched short video clips. The children in the study were of average intelligence or higher and did not have any psychiatric or developmental problems. The researchers used videos in three categories to evaluate the brain activity: funny, positive and neutral.

According to the School of Medicine’s statement, the funny videos were intended to be rewarding and positive to watch while the positive videos were only intended to be rewarding. The neutral videos were intended to be neither funny nor rewarding.

The researchers found that the funny videos activated two regions in the children’s brains that are also activated in adults’ brains when they view funny material. However, an area of the brain known as the temporal-occipital-parietal junction, which processes perceived incongruities, was activated in both the left and right hemispheres of the children’s brains. This area is only activated on the left side of the brain in adult subjects reacting to similar material. Humor also activated the brain’s mesolimbic regions, which process rewards.

The research team included Allan Reiss, director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research at Stanford, and Michelle Neely ’11, currently a Cornell medical student. The study was published in the Feb. 1 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

Aunque parece poco, cuando se habla de tres años de matrimonio la cifra se vuelve relevante. El trabajo fue hecho por investigadores de la Universidad de Ontario, en Canadá, quienes midieron el nivel de satisfacción de 170 estudiantes universitarios que habían tenido relaciones desde dos meses hasta nueve años.

Para algunos, el resultado se explica por la diferencia en los niveles de testosterona entre hombres y mujeres. Pero los investigadores señalaron que “los factores externos juegan un papel importante también”, según señaló Sarah Murray, coautora del estudio, publicado en el Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy.

“Variables como si tienen una relación satisfactoria y amorosa, o tiempo para relajarse y sentirse sexys son importantes para las mujeres”, aseguró Murray.

*Nota de livescience.com
Women Lose Interest in Sex

New research is demonstrating what many people already knew from experience: Women lose interest in sex over time, while men don’t.

The finding has the potential to help couples, the researchers said. Knowing that many women’s sexual desire diminishes over the course of a relationship could encourage both partners to be more realistic about their sex lives, and could help them weather the changes in desire as they occur.

Sex researchers Sarah Murray and Robin Milhausen, both of the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, asked 170 undergraduate women and men who had been in heterosexual relationships for anywhere from one month to nine years to report on their levels of relationship satisfaction, sexual satisfaction and sexual desire. Desire was scored using an established model called the Female Sexual Function Index, which ranges from 1.2 to 6.0.

The participants reported being generally satisfied with their relationships and sex lives, but women reported lower levels of desire depending on the length of their relationship. “Specifically, for each additional month women in this study were in a relationship with their partner, their sexual desire decreased by 0.02 on the Female Sexual Function Index,” the authors wrote online Jan. 23 in the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy.

Según los investigadores de las universidades de Leeds y Bradford, Inglaterra, ciertos compuestos específicos de la plata podrían utilizarse para tratar algunos tipos de cáncer.

Todavía, sin embargo, será necesario llevar a cabo más estudios para conocer cómo actúa el metal en las células.

Toxicidad
Actualmente, uno de los principales fármacos de quimioterapia contra el cáncer, el cisplatin, está basado en compuestos de platino.

Este medicamento se usa para tratar varios tipos de cáncer, incluido pulmonar, de mama, vejiga, testículos, cabeza y cuello y ovarios.

Se conoce, sin embargo, que el cisplatin, igual que otros fármacos de quimioterapia, provoca severos efectos secundarios como vómito y náusea, fallo renal y supresión del sistema inmune.

Por eso muchos equipos científicos en todo el mundo están buscando una alternativa que sea igualmente efectiva que la quimioterapia para matar células cancerosas pero sin tener efectos perjudiciales en las células sanas del paciente.

La doctora Charlotte Willans y su equipo analizaron en el laboratorio diferentes compuestos químicos basados en moléculas de plata y los expusieron a células cancerosas de mama y colon.

Los científicos expusieron las células a los compuestos durante períodos de seis días y posteriormente compararon sus efectos con los del Cisplatin. Los resultados aparecen publicados en la revista Dalton Transactions.

*Nota de dailymail.com.uk
Silver bullet for cancer: Metal can kill some tumours better than chemotherapy with fewer side effects

Silver can kill some cancers as effectively as chemotherapy and with potentially fewer side effects, new research claims.
Scientists say that old wives tales about the precious metal being a ‘silver bullet’ to beat the Big C could be true.
The metal already has a wide range of medicinal uses and is a common antiseptic, antibiotic and means of purifying water in the third world.

British researchers now say that silver compounds are as effective at killing certain cancer cells as a leading chemotherapy drug, but with potentially far fewer side-effects.

They compared it to Cisplatin, currently used to treat a wide variety of cancers, but known to have harsh side effects including nausea, vomiting and even kidney damage.

Silver is used already in everyday products such as deodorant with no known side-effects, and could make for a potentially cheaper alternative to platinum-based Cisplatin.

Researchers from the University of Leeds conducted lab tests which exposed breast and colon cancer cells to various silver-based chemicals over a six day period. Results, published in journal Dalton Transactions, showed that these silver-compounds were ‘as effective as Cisplatin’ at killing cancer with potentially fewer side effects.

While the team are still unsure about how exactly silver battles cancer, they think its effectiveness may be caused by the structure surrounding silver atoms, known as its ligand.

They think this may help release the silver ion into cells when it enters the body, killing any cancer.

Study author Dr Charlotte Willans plans to spend the next year looking closely at what effect silver has on both cancerous and healthy cells, and whether it could be a safe and effective new anti-cancer drug.
She said: ‘It’s certainly an exciting discovery, although I think we have a lot of work to do in the future. It opens the doors in terms of what we can do and investigate.

‘Getting these results also gives us the opportunity we need to apply for funding to take the research further. ‘This could lead to a cheaper, less toxic alternative to current treatments for cancer.’

Explaining the research in greater detail, Dr Willans added: ‘As many are unfortunately aware, chemotherapy can be a very gruelling experience for the patient.

‘Finding effective, yet non-toxic drugs is an ongoing problem, but these preliminary results are an important step in solving it.

‘Our research has looked at the structure which surrounds a central silver atom. This “shrubbery” is what determines how reactive it is and what it will interact with.’Our research has used different types of these ligands to see which is the most effective against cancer cells.’

De acuerdo con la investigación, publicada en Science Daily, esto ocurre porque al menos un componente de la pareja desea establecer una conexión afectuosa y que demuestre cierto compromiso.

Los investigadores entrevistaron a casi 50 personas que respondieron cuestionarios sobre sus experiencias con su pareja después de hacer el amor.

Los que respondieron que sus parejas se dormían primero, demostraron ser aquellos que preferían quedarse acurrucados y conversar.

Los especialistas dedujeron que esto sucedía debido a que “dormirse antes que la pareja puede ser una manera no consciente de evitar conversaciones de compromiso luego del sexo”, señalaron.

No obstante, los resultados no demostraron de ninguna manera alguna clase de indicador que afirmara que los hombres se dormían más rápido que las mujeres.

Finalmente, los resultados revelaron también que las mujeres se dormían más rápido aun sin haber sexo de por medio, y los hombres se quedaban despiertos esperando que hubiera alguna clase de actividad sexual.

*Nota de Cosmopolitan

Does your partner sleep after sex??‎

We’ve always wondered what makes guys conk out after sex and now science is offering up an explanation. According to a recent joint study from the University of Michigan and Albright College, people are more likely to fall asleep after getting busy if their partner is craving more affection and a stronger bond with them.

To get the results, scientists polled 456 people on who falls asleep after sex and who crashes first when you go to bed and don’t have sex. People whose partners passed out right after sex had stronger desires to cuddle and chat after the deed than those whose partners didn’t fall asleep after sex. Of course, this could be because they’re craving a good snuggle-fest since their guy never does it, but the study didn’t look into this.

Researchers say the reaction is subconscious and essentially a way to avoid talking about feelings. So basically, if your guy passes out afterwards, he’s not interested in chatting about the state of your relationship…or he’s just tired and feels comfortable enough around you to pass out when he feels like it.

Another interesting tidbit: Scientists found that women were more likely to fall asleep first when they didn’t have sex. Their guess as to why? Men could stay awake longer because they’re hoping to entice you into a little pre-sleep nooky.

La profesora de psiquiatría infantil Joan L. Luby aseguró que quedó comprobado que la crianza de un niño influye directamente en las dimensiones que adopta el hipocampo.

El estudio fue publicado por la revista Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) y es el primero que relaciona el tamaño del cerebro infantil con la forma de crianza.

La científica abogó porque la sociedad tome más conciencia y realicen la crianza en torno al amor y la atención, ya que esto luego tendrá un impacto en el desarrollo de la persona.

*Nota de medicanews.com

A Parent’s Nurturing Results In Larger Hippocampus In Children

A recent study by child psychiatrists and neuroscientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition, states that children whose mothers showed them love and affection from the very beginning have brains with a larger hippocampus, which is a key part of the brain involved with memory, stress response, and learning.

The hippocampus is a very important element of the brain. It is part of the limbic system and is largely involved in grouping together information from short term memory to long term, as well as aiding in spatial navigation. When the body is stressed, the brain triggers the autonomic nervous system, which releases stress hormones to help the body deal with stress. The hippocampus is the main area of the brain that helps with this response. Leading the research is author Joan L. Luby, MD, professor of child psychiatry. She says:

This study validates something that seems to be intuitive, which is just how important nurturing parents are to creating adaptive human beings. I think the public health implications suggest that we should pay more attention to parents’ nurturing, and we should do what we can as a society to foster these skills because clearly nurturing has a very, very big impact on later development.

The researchers used brain imaging technology on children aged 7 to 10 years, who had been involved in a previous study of preschool depression, which was conducted by Ludy and team about 10 years prior to the new study. The previous study examined 3 to 6 year olds who were showing signs and symptoms of depression, a different type of psychiatric distress, or were completely mentally healthy with no signs of psychiatric problems at all.

Un estudio en ratas que apareció en la publicación Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology demostró que ondas sonoras pueden ser utilizadas para reducir la cantidad de esperma a niveles que podrían causar infertilidad en humanos.

Los investigadores a cargo del estudio describieron el ultrasonido como un “candidato prometedor” a convertirse en un método anticonceptivo.

Sin embargo, todavía serán necesarios muchos más estudios sobre el tema antes de que pueda ser utilizado en la práctica.

El concepto se propuso primero en los años 70, pero el tema volvió hace poco a llamar la atención de científicos, especialmente los de la Universidad de Carolina del Norte, en Estados Unidos, que ganaron una beca de la fundación de Bill y Melinda Gates.

En humanos y en ratas

Encontraron que dos dosis de 15 minutos “reducen significativamente” el número de células productoras de espermas y los niveles de esperma.

Tuvo sus niveles más altos de efectividad cuando se realizó en dos días aparte y a través de agua caliente salada.

En humanos, los investigadores aseguraron que los hombres se consideran “subfértiles” cuando la proporción de esperma cae por debajo de los 15 millones de espermatozoides por mililitro.

El número de espermatozoides en ratas se redujo a menos de 10 millones por mililitro.

El investigador jefe, James Tsuruta, dijo: “Se necesitan más estudios para determinar cuánto dura el efecto anticonceptivo y si es seguro utilizarlo en múltiples ocasiones”.

Más trabajo
El equipo necesita asegurarse de que el ultrasonido produce un efecto reversible, es decir, anticoncepción mas no esterilización.

Asímismo, deberán investigar si podría haber daños acumulativos al repetir las dosis.
Allan Pacey, profesor de andrología en la Universidad de Sheffield, en Reino Unido, dijo: “Es una buena idea, pero se necesita mucho más trabajo”.

Añadió que es probable que pueda haber una recuperación de la producción de esperma, pero que el “esperma podría dañarse y cualquier bebé podría salir con problemas” cuando se reanude la producción de esperma.

“Lo último que queremos es un daño prolongado de la esperma”, dijo.

*Nota de popsci.com
Zapping Testicles With Ultrasonic Pulses Shown To Be Effective Contraceptive
By Rebecca BoylePosted 01.30.2012 at 12:12 pm14 Comments

Treated Testis The testis is composed of many tubes called “seminiferous tubules.” The seminiferous tubule on the left is from a testis that was not treated with ultrasound while the tubule on the right is from a testis that was treated with ultrasound. The ultrasound-treated tubule is completely lacking testicular sperm and has lost almost all immature germ cells, decreasing its overall diameter while greatly increasing the amount of “empty” space in the center of the tubule. Courtesy James Tsuruta and Paul Dayton
An ultrasound zap to the testicles can stop the production of sperm, reducing overall sperm count to a level that would render males infertile, according to a new study involving rats. Further studies are still needed to test how long this new contraceptive method would last, and whether infertility could be reversed. But for the researchers studying rat and monkey testicles, the early results are pretty gratifying.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine rotated high-frequency ultrasound transducers around the testes of rats. They put the animals’ testes in a cup full of saline solution to provide better conduction between the transducer and the skin. Then they measured the animals’ sperm counts to see how much they dropped. After several tests, scientists led by James Tsuruta found the ideal therapy was two 15-minute sessions, two days apart, which led to a dramatic reduction in sperm.
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Science, Rebecca Boyle, contraception, human sperm, life sciences, male contraception, male reproductive organs, sex, sperm, ultrasonic sensors, ultrasoundThis was all pretty promising, so the foundation that funded the rat study commissioned a second study in monkeys.

Scientists first studied ultrasound for contraception back in the 1970s, testing it on rats, monkeys, dogs and men. But other researchers who later tried to duplicate those results were stumped, and some reproductive health scientists dismissed it as hooey. Ultrasonic therapy languished for several years before Tsuruta and others resumed working on it.

Lots more studies would need to be done to make sure this is a safe method of contraception, however. There are concerns about the duration of treatment, and there could be adverse sexual effects. The sperm that come back might be damaged, which could impact embryo development after fertilization, other researchers said. So it’s not a male birth control method, at least not yet. The rat study was published Monday in the journal Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology.

El 31 de enero será el día en el que Timeline pase a ocupar los muros de todos los usuarios de la popular red social. Los miembros de la comunidad online no podrán rechazar el nuevo diseño del portal.

Entre las novedades, se incluyen más de 60 aplicaciones como Foursquare, Tripadvisor, eBay, Foodspotting, Ticketmaster y AirBnB, entre otros. Los nuevos servicios permiten a los internautas catalogar cada aspecto de sus vidas y compartirlos con sus amigos.

Facebook sufrirá un cambio drástico en su apariencia. El clásico muro será reemplazado por una extensa línea de tiempo -timeline- en la que se puede ver por año y por mes la actividad del usuario. Como comienza desde la fecha del nacimiento, la red social nombró al perfil “Biografía”.

La prestigiosa revista Times elaboró una lista con cinco consejos sobre el nuevo Facebook.

La opción “esconder del Timeline” es un aliado
Según vaticina la publicación, será la herramienta más usada. Se encuentra al hacer clic sobre el lápiz de edición, que también permite editar o eliminar la noticia. También al entrar a Registro de Actividad (Activity Log), donde está el detalle de toda la actividad del usuario. Desde fotos indeseadas a estados escritos tiempo atrás, y que jamás fueron borrados por quedar sepultados debajo de otras actualizaciones, se pueden esconder o eliminar del perfil.

Las portadas de los álbumes ahora son enormes
En las columnas de Timeline, las imágenes aparecen grandes y destacadas, algo para tener en cuenta y evitar subir fotografías comprometedoras porque no pasarán desapercibidas. De ser álbumes anteriores, con ingresar a la edición será suficiente.

Internet sabe ubicar dónde te encuentras
Se puede etiquetar la locación en que se tomaron las fotos o los álbumes. Si un amigo localiza una imagen, todos podrán verlo y, si no se desactiva antes, habrá que cambiar la etiqueta manualmente, en caso de de la información sea errónea.

¿Violación de la privacidad? Desconfía de las aplicaciones
Muchas de las aplicaciones son entretenidas, pero algunas de ellas pueden acceder y hacer públicos determinados datos personales, o bien disponer de ellos para fines privados. Hay que tener cuidado con lo que se acepta. En la configuración de la cuenta, se pueden editar los permisos de las aplicaciones o eliminarlas.

Ante cualquier duda, usar la vista previa de otros usuarios
La función no es nueva, pero ante los cambios de Facebook, es bueno echarle un vistazo. Al editar la privacidad, hay una opción para visualizar el perfil tal como lo ve un determinado usuario. De esa forma, se puede chequear que no se enseñe ningún dato de más.

También hay a quienes les gusta Timeline
No todo mundo se pone paranoico ante la perspectiva de Timeline, a algunas personas realmente les gusta. Jared Newman, de la revista PcWorld cree que con el tiempo, a los usuarios de Facebook les gustará Timeline. Tanto las ventajas como las desventajas haran que los usuarios muestren los detalles mas relevantes de sus vidas.

*Nota de pcworld.com
Facebook Timeline Looms: What You Need to Know

Soon Facebook users who have been avoiding the social network’s Timeline feature won’t be able to stave it off any longer and will be seeing their profiles change considerably. That’s because Facebook is making Timeline compulsory and is rolling it out to users in the next couple of weeks.

You should be aware of several things before the launch. Here’s how to prepare.

Are Your Posts Viewable by Strangers?
Instead of a linear stream of your posts, the new Timeline is a visual aggregation of everything you’ve ever done on the site: the information you’ve included on your profile, your photos, everything you’ve ever “liked,” any Facebook apps you’re using, a map showing where you’ve been (according to geo-tagged posts and photos), as well as a Timeline of everything you’ve ever posted.

The problem is that Facebook seems bent on making all of that data more public. Now any post that you make defaults to Public, so if you forget to choose “friends” in the inline audience selector when you post something, the entire world can see it.

That’s why it’s very important that you check out how your Timeline looks when other people view it. You may find that many of the posts you intended for your friends are public.

To see how your Timeline looks to strangers, click on the small gear just below the right corner of your cover (the spot where you can place a large banner photo at the top of your Timeline). From the gear, click View As. From there, you’ll be able to preview your public Timeline.

To make sure your past posts are limited to friends, click on the small arrow on the top right corner of your Timeline. Then go to Privacy Settings>> Limit the Audience for Past Posts>>Manage Past Post Visibility and select Limit Old Posts. Alternately, you can change the audience by clicking on the small pencil icon at the top right of individual posts to edit or hide them from the Timeline.

Once you get Timeline you only have seven days to make changes to it, such as hiding old posts from years ago that you may not want the world to see, or managing the visibility of your posts.

So if you’re someone who doesn’t check into Facebook often, you might want to proactively get Timeline now and then sit down to review it and make changes.

Several privacy groups are urging the Federal Trade Commission to look into whether Facebook oversteps its authority with Timeline, but in the meantime, it’s up to you to check your privacy settings.

Facebook Wants More of Your Data
Another thing that the new feature lets you do is add events from any part of your past — all the way back to birth, if you want — to create an online scrapbook of your entire life.

If you’re not sure what kinds of things you should add, Facebook has plenty of ideas. Inside your Timeline you can click on Life Event in your status bar and you’ll be asked to categorize your entry into one of these headings: Work & Education, Family & Relationships, Home & Living, Health & Wellness or Travel & Experiences.

Within each category is a slew of suggestions. For instance, under Home & Living, you can choose: Moved, Bought a Home, Home Improvement, New Roommate, New Vehicle and Other Life Event.

Can you imagine all the new data Facebook is going to be accumulating from users? The reason, of course, is to laser target ads at people. But some people don’t like the idea of Facebook having such rich profiles about individual users on file.

Some Security Concerns
Security firm Sophos polled 4000 Facebook users, asking them what they think of the new Timeline and the response was overwhelmingly negative, with 51 percent saying the feature worries them and another 32 percent saying they don’t know why they’re still on Facebook.

For one thing, with more of your data possibly accessible by strangers, it may be easier for criminals to profile people and glean personal information.

The reality is that personal data is very valuable to criminals. For example, with enough information a bad guy can impersonate someone in order to do things like pull off phishing scams.

In its Naked Security blog, Sophos points out that once they see all their data clumped in one place many Facebook users are shocked at how much information about themselves they’ve posted online.

Another thing that might make you uncomfortable is the map included in Timeline that shows where you hang out. If you don’t want people seeing that information, make sure to go back to any geo-tagged posts or photos and either change the location or hide it from the Timeline.

Timeline Fans Exist, Too
Not everybody is going into paranoid mode with the rollout of Timeline and some people really like it.

PCWorld’s Jared Newman believes that in time, Facebook users will come to like Timeline. The downside, he points out, is that users must do some cultivating to bring their most relevant life details to the surface.