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Unplugging Day 7: The End is Near!
I apologize for posting this latest blog late but this was unavoidable as I had classes/work all day yesterday and research that needed to be carried out for this particular blog piece. So that said, please enjoy day 7.
I’ve almost made it through in one piece!
All week I have struggled to stay off Facebook and Twitter. Some days were better then others. Some days I can rationally look at my 
participation in social media and think about the time I spend on social media and ask questions about it. But other days are not like this, other days all I want to do is get on Facebook and see what others are doing, and upload all my pics of my pets. This morning was on of those mornings, I got into the car and there was frost on the windshield. The first thing I thought was “man I wish I could update my Facebook status and complain about the damn frost”. The second thing I thought was that I wanted to get all the pictures off my iPhone but uploading them to Facebook. Why? No one is going to care about the frost on my windshield, and everyone has seen countless pictures of my animals!
These struggles I have had all week have lead me to the question: what is addiction? Often we think of addiction in terms of drugs or alcohol abuse, but addiction can also be behavioral. I feel as though I must explain what I mean by ‘we’ as I’ve been using it all week. I don’t mean “we” as in you specifically, or that I am speaking for everyone and lumping us all together. When I say ‘we’ I mean the western, developed, world.
So what does it mean to be addicted to social media? What is addiction? According to New Brunswick Canadian Health an addiction is when you use a substance, or engage in a behaivour that is repetitive and damaging. Wikipedia says that an addiction is something where pleasure or enjoyment are originally the intention, but over time the use of the substance or activity is needed to feel normal. Bloggers have also tried to answer the question: when are you addicted? Such as this blogger here that attempts to come up with signs of being addicted. Some of my favourite signs include: Tweeting on the toilet, if you had to choose between not eating and not tweeting you’d pick not eating, if you have more then one twitter or Facebook application on your phone, and at least 80% of your family and real friends have ‘unfriended’(deleted) you from Facebook.
It could also be defined as a “recurring compulsion” by someone to engage in some specific behaviour that harms their: health, mental 
state, or social life.
I like the last definition, I would tend to argue it is probably the best definition for social media addiction, as I can relate to the overwhelming compulsion to log in. But then I must ask “what is social life?” Is social life in person to person interaction only? Or can this be defined more broadly to include our cyber lives as well? Some people I know would argue most definitely, that some of their best friends they met online using Twitter, Facebook, Google +, chat sites, or other forms of social media.
What behaviours are then considered “behaivoural addictions” and who decides this? Some would ask is a social media even a true addiction? Does it have validity? Is it defined through public opinion? Do experts, such as psychologists or doctors with fancy degrees, tell us what is considered an addiction or what we need to watch for in our children to determine if they fit into some said category of addiction? What dictates our use of social media, and how does it fit into our everyday life? Does society dictate the appropriate use of technology, specifically social media, or does technology (in this case social media) dictate the way we behave while out with friends, or in the class room.
Do we (people who engage in social media) expect the same instant gratification out of our ‘real’ day to day activities that we get from social media sites, like Twitter? Do we allow our social worlds to collide with our day to day life so that it just seems natural for us to pick up our phone during a meal and start texting, emailing, or checking messages on Facebook?
One study from 2010 asked social media users when and how they used social media. Some of the more interesting findings included: iPhone users used social media more (perhaps because of accessibility via applications), almost 50% of respondents said they would wake up in the middle of the night and check social media such as Facebook and Twitter, and 56% said that they need to check social media at least once a day.
Perhaps the most interesting responses the study got was when people were asked when they are OK receiving and responding to messages. 
People responded with all kinds of answers most notable was: during sex, and during a meal.
While this may not be the most reliable study ever done it does give us an insight into what people think is an appropriate use of social media, and it gives us an idea about the recurring compulsion to get on to social media sites.
I don’t know how to answer these questions, and the many others I have, but perhaps I will find answers over the next few days as I write a few pieces on my entire week. What I do think is that social media addiction is, at least for me, a recurring compulsion that has been known to hurt aspects of my life. Or at least get in the way of parts of my life, such as dinner with my husband, and evidently my school work.
I definitively think that some aspects of social media can be, and arguably are, addictive. Maybe even better questions to ask would be: what is it about social media that draws us all in? And what regulates our (as in the developed world) behaviours with this technology?
Unplugging Day 6: The Social Media Hangover Comes to an End
As day 6 comes to an end and I move into my last 24 hours of being 
unplugged from social media I realize I am in no real hurry to log back on. I’ve been enjoying this week just reflecting, balancing out my life, reconnecting with real people, and my productivity has gone through the roof. I’ve enjoyed going outside (imagine that), reading books, catching up on my homework (in fact I am now ahead in every subject), and reconnecting with people (including my husband).
The only thing that is a bit scary from this whole week is that it took me a good 5 days to really get over being disconnected from Twitter and Facebook. I am looking forward to getting back online and reconnecting with my online world, but by no means does this mean that I am going to jump back online at 7:30 Thursday morning just because I can.
If you are someone who has been as lost in social media as I have been the last few years, I highly recommend taking a social media break for a few days. Kick back, don’t worry about it, and reflect. You may be surprised at what you find!
Unplugging Day 5: Making a Plan
Today I decided to sit down and have a conversation with my husband 
about my use of social media. He also unplugged from Facebook and Twitter this week (though it hasn’t been as hard for him as for me). He told me today that he also didn’t realize how much he was on Facebook, and was outraged with himself for wasting so much time on the site. As a result he has decided he will be limiting his own access after this week to checking such sites only once a day. I don’t know if I can make that same commitment, but I do know that I will be cutting way back on how much I use these tools, and when.
For months he has been telling me that I am too deeply involved in Twitter and Facebook, and at one point he had mentioned to me that sometimes he feels as if he is ‘ having a relationship with the back of a computer screen’. Either because I am always working on my school work, or because I am on Twitter, or Facebook. I do spend a lot of time doing both and often either justified why I was spending so much time doing this stuff, or just ignored him completely and hoped he would forget about it.
We’ve often fought over how much time I spend doing school work, other projects, or being on social media. Obviously I can’t just stop doing my schoolwork, or my other projects but perhaps he may be right about social media. Although I use social media for a variety of different things including: school, networking, and managing various projects I am involved in, this doesn’t mean I should be available 24/7. And that is just the problem isn’t it?
In the age of smart phones you can literally do everything on your cell phone. You can check and receive emails, send text messages, and get push Facebook and Twitter notifications (so you don’t even need to open the application to get them). I have 6 different email addresses that get pushed through to my iPhone. Is this something that is necessary? Will my world, or another person’s world fall apart if I don’t answer their email within 5 minutes? Probably not, but the reality is that most of us who have that iPhone, blackberry, or other smart phone do answer our emails, text messages, or other notifications that come through to our phones fairly quickly. I am not really sure if this is a healthy thing to be doing. Everyone needs time away and it would seem too many people have their cyber worlds colliding with their real world and their are no longer any clear boundaries between the two.
I am just looking at the outrageous amount of ‘apps’ I have on my phone and I can do everything. I have an application that allows me to do all my banking from my phone, I have another that would allow me to post and update this blog (seriously, why do I have that?). I’ve got mobile blackboard, an application that allows me to check in with my classes- OK I admit this one has been useful. I have 4 different applications that allow me to use Twitter, about 10 different games that are 
really good for draining my battery real fast, and a whole bunch of other useless applications that I will probably never use.
Because we can do all these things and more with our smart phones others expect us to be available within minutes. Have you ever sent an email to your professor and got one back right away and noticed on the bottom it says: sent from my iPhone, blackberry (or other device)? Have you then sent them an email at 10 o’clock at night the day before a big essay is due and then gotten all peeved because they never wrote you back. But you know they have a smart phone and you think to yourself: seriously, WTF? Yeah, I know some of you have done that. For those of you not in school perhaps you had a similar experience with your boss, or even just a friend.
I won’t be giving up social media altogether as I use it for many different purposes but this week I have learned that it is OK to take a break from Social Media. My world won’t crumble in upon itself. And even if some of the people I am working on these projects with are freaking out at me on Twitter and Facebook I am not there to see it, and if it was that important you would think they would have sent an email, or you know picked up the phone. So there is no doubt about it I will reexamine how and when I use social media so that it is no longer excessive and so that it won’t get in the way of the important relationships in my life.
Unplugging Day 4: Productivity
I have seemed to have gotten through the hardest part, the first 3 days. I still got up this morning and reached for my cell phone as usual but I went straight to CBC news application, remembering that I 
can’t get on Twitter, and spent 10 minutes looking at the morning headlines before getting up and heading on with my day.
We had an unfortunate incident with my cat early this morning involving a toxic plant and had to run her to the emergency clinic which involved a good 1.5 hours of waiting around and it wasn’t until we were on our way home that I realized I hadn’t pulled out my cell phone the entire time we were waiting around the hospital.
I also noticed my productivity has spiked today, noticing a big difference in just 24 hours. Yesterday I hadn’t thought that there was a real difference in what I would normally manage to get done and what I was getting done as I took other kinds of breaks instead of Facebook breaks. Today I realized that I don’t have Facebook and Twitter running in the background on my computer therefore I am not distracted by people Facebook messaging me, or seeing 10 new Tweets on the Twitter tab. I spent more time working during work time, and no time on social media. As a result of this I am a head of schedule in almost all my reading for my classes, I finally finished a project I have been working on for what seems like forever, and I finished a good portion of a book that one of my professors recommended to me.
I still maintain that I am a great multitasker, and am able to maintain a high GPA while being extensively involved with social media (perhaps a bit of denial on my part). However, I can’t argue that participating in social media doesn’t impact how much I get done and the amount of reading and rereading I could potentially get done. This is because it still takes time for me to answer people on Facebook when they message me, or go through those 10 tweets on Twitter before returning to the work I was previously engaged in.
While Twitter and Facebook might be a good mental break for 5-10 minutes when studying at school I think that I am going to have to strike a balance. Open it up for the 5 to 10 minutes and then close it again before going on with whatever activity I am working on. Maybe by changing my social media habits I can be more productive and achieve my goals on time.
Yes, come Friday I may have to seriously evaluate how much access I let myself have to social media. In the mean time I will continue on and try to get through the next 3 days in one piece, and in good mental health.
Unplugging Day 3: Detox
As I end day 3 of my detox from Facebook and Twitter I’ve surrounded myself with supportive people and have heard all kinds of advice for getting through. Some 
useful, some not so useful. One of my friends suggested it must be like quitting smoking and to hang in there because it gets better after day 4. Another friend of mine told me to start using Google connect instead. This of course being the popular idea of trading one addiction for another that people often do. My father in law told me he would be my official sponsor, and also to wear mittens. And another person suggested chewing gum.
It’s interesting because my husband is doing this with me, as a way to support me, only he is having no issues at all, and frankly this makes me dislike him. Not because he is not having problems with it, but because it confirms my own addiction. I bring this up because he received an interesting email from Facebook and in the subject line he said it read “a reminder from Facebook: you haven’t logged on in a while.” How creepy is that? Facebook tracks your average use and when you are a way too long it sends you an auto email to remind you of all you are missing in the world. “Rob….where did you go Rob? Why don’t you like your friends anymore Rob? We miss you Rob. Come back to us Rob.” Yes, the more I think about it, the more it creeps me out. But not enough to keep me away.
I have classic symptoms of detox, and addiction: anxiousness, bitchiness, a short temper. I say I am having these issues because when my friends and family bring up Facebook or Twitter or say I have an addiction to it I get snappy and cranky with them. Today I still found myself reaching for my cell phone wanting to update my Facebook status, and see what other people are up to.
I find that my mind is wandering, wondering if I have been tagged in any horrible pictures, or if anyone is saying anything about me, and what messages might be in my inbox. It may seem extremely self involved but how can we not be when we are all so obsessed with an online world that is based on us. Look at Facebook for example (or Myspace if you still use that) both evolve around us. You make a profile all about you and we all get to feel important with our 587 ‘friends’ that are all, presumably, reading about our lives, half of whome we either: don’t know, don’t like, or are indifferent to.
I remember a few months ago I went to Chapters and the girl looking at books in the same aisle as I, was someone on my Facebook. We never exchanged a word the entire time. That day my Facebook ‘friend’ list fell from above 200 to below 80.
But even more then that, we feel as though we are loosing control. And I think that may be the scariest, and hardest part of it all. When in reality no one really cares about my Facebook, or is talking about me. Why? Because they are all too busy talking about themselves to talk about me and truthfully, I am not that important. No one is. This is the reality of Facebook. Me. Me. Me. Me. Me.
As sad as it may seem, I don’t really know what to do with myself. I’ve thrown myself into school work to try and keep busy, but I am not really doing anymore then I would normally. I still take breaks, only the difference is now I find myself with nothing to do on these breaks. I can’t just hop onto 
Facebook to see what everyone else is up to, I can’t hop on to Twitter and get the afternoons latest headlines, so instead I found myself having to go for a walk. Imagine that, I was actually forced to go outside!? I don’t think we realize how much we use these online communities in our everyday life. Whether it be a break from school work, a break from working, or just simply because we are bored. I often hear people say they eat when they are bored, well I Tweet when I am bored. It keeps my mind occupied, and allows me to interact with people who are like minded.
You may be reading this and thinking to yourself that I am one very sad individual, probably someone with no friends, perhaps little family, gets poor grades in school, and sits on MSN all day ( do people still use MSN?) but this is not the case. I have wonderful friends, and a great family, whom I love and see often. I do well in my classes, and complete my homework (eventually). I like to go out with people, I enjoy movies, and even the outdoors (camping as an example). But social media is so accessible that you can access it on a cell phone from anywhere. Hell, I can access my Facebook whilst I am camping at Red Streak camp ground in Radium which is up on a mountain. How ridiculous is that? Have you ever found yourself in a movie theater texting your friend? Or find yourself checking your Facebook while you are at dinner with someone? I bet at least some of you have done this. My husband had to make a rule for us ” No cell phones while we are eating.” I think a sign of addiction is when said activity starts getting in the way of other parts of your life?
“My name is Nicole, and I am addicted to social media.”
Unplugging Day 2: Noticing the Difference
Before I get into my withdrawal for the day I wanted to address 
something that a couple professors brought up to me today. “Aren’t you cheating by blogging about your experience?” In simple terms I would argue no. Maybe I should have first blogged about the assignment itself. So I’ll go back to the beginning. This is my assignment:
“This assignment option gives you the opportunity to critically examine and reflect upon your relationship to Facebook. For one week (and you must stick to this for one full week), you will unplug from Facebook completely.”
As I stated in my previous entry I didn’t believe that just unplugging from Facebook would be an experience as for me Twitter and Facebook are the same and I use them in the same way. For this to be meaningful I needed to unplug from both. Also, blogging is a completely different type of social media than Facebook, Google connect, or Twitter.
A blog is an online journal where you essentially share your thoughts, opinions, and criticisms, on a public forum. Whereas Facebook, Twitter (and others) are not only about receiving instant information they also keep you in touch with friends in an interactive way. Facebook and Twitter keep me in touch with people, and friends instantly. There is no wait time. I log on and become a sponge soaking up useless information about what colour someone’s babies poop was that day, or about how Jane Doe in Arizona broke the record for largest pizza ever made.
I can go on and chat with friends in real time, send messages, receive messages, update my status to give everyone on my Facebook or Twitter some useless information about something I saw in the hallway, and post endless amounts of pictures of my cat and dog so that my father can look at them on his iPhone and make my mom look at my dog in 6 slightly different poses. In other words Facebook and Twitter are a scary all-consuming addiction.
Speaking of addiction, it’s now been just over 36 hours since I took the plunge and gave up Facebook and Twitter. Even as I sit and write this there is a commercial on TV telling me to “like” the Food Network
on Facebook and Follow them on Twitter. I am being mocked in every way! And in this moment I realize that I am going through some clear withdrawl, as someone may go through when giving up coffee.
Some have told me I am visibly cranky (though that is not the word that they used), and even
jittery, and distracted. Several times I have had to stop myself from hitting the share button on a news article I have read. There have also been several times where I have seen something and I find myself scrolling through my iPhone so I can ‘update’ my Facebook status. Only to remember that: I can’t just post the hilarious thing I saw on the train because I am banned from Facebook, and more 
importantly I deleted the apps from my phone so I couldn’t go on the sites. Which is an indicator of addiction within itself, that I had to delete the applications on my phone so I could not make the update.
I’ve found in the last 36 hours I go to do this without even thinking about it. For example, I got up this morning and within 2 minutes of being awake I grabbed my cell phone, only to remember I could no longer hop on twitter for the morning news. Instead, I opened my CBC news app on iPhone and impatiently waited for it to load. Why? Why do we do this? I can’t be the only person on the planet that does this.
Once CBC finally loaded I was horrified to see that the headlines were the same as they were when I went to bed last night. This would not have happened on Twitter, or even Facebook. Headlines get posted to Twitter immediately, one could argue that you get the news as it is happening instead of having to wait for someone to write about it. Now I haven’t been on Twitter long, but I have in the past 6 months noticed I will read about a “breaking story” on Twitter and 4 hours later it will get sent to my phone via: QR77 email ‘breaking news’ alert.
I think this shows us just how much we expect instant gratification. I don’t want to hear the news hours later, and Twitter has made it so I don’t have to. I want to hear about it as it is happening. And why? Does it really matter if I learn about some guy being charged for another guys beating 10 minutes after it happens or 8 hours later? Probably not. That said perhaps the instant gratification isn’t all bad. If you can hear about a charge 10 minutes after it happens, you could, can, and do, hear about such things as amber alerts just as fast. Which in my opinion is something that needs to get out to the public instantly. But how do we strike a balance in our lives, is it as easy as everyone thinks it is to just turn off our social media connections?
Unplugging Facebook/Twitter for 7 Days
Last night I attended one of my first classes of the term. We did all the usual things you do in first classes that everyone seems to hate yet we always do. The professor had us introduce ourselves to each other, which is always for the better, but everyone dreads talking in front of the class especially about themselves. We then went over the course outline. Normally this would be nothing special but as we came to the assignments this class became interesting, unique, and more wonderful then I had previously thought it was going to be. Assignment number one: Unplug from a social media source for one week.
I must have read and reread this a number of times. Shocked, horrified, and terrified were all emotions that I had all at once as I read this assignment. I must admit for a split second I contemplated dropping the class (and I’d be willing to bet so did some others). That didn’t last for more then a second and to be fair this professor did offer a second option for assignment one, of which I have no interest in as I spend most of my time doing what assignment one would have us do anyway. No option B was much more interesting: unplug from one social media source for 7 days.
I had thought about taking the loophole in the assignment. Technically it only asks us to cut our ties with one outlet of social media. Originally I thought that I would just cut off Facebook for 7 days. 
But then I realized that I use both for all the same things, so would I really be learning anything or fully participating in this experiment if I only cut myself off from Facebook? The answer is clearly no. So I made the decision at 7:32 am this morning to cut myself off from both Facebook and Twitter for 7 days. It has now been 2 hours 13 minutes and I currently feel like an alcoholic would probably feel if they were to step into a bar or pub in their first few hours of soberness. I am currently sitting in a university where social media is buzzing around me. I’ve already been asked three times today if I have seen this article or that article that Joe Blow posted on Facebook this morning. And another girl asked me if I was following the Twitter #MRU to keep up with UFest events today. I am seriously already considering establishing SMA (Social Media Anonymous) meetings on campus to help me through the week. First sign of addiction?
I must admit I am a bit nervous about whether or not I can do this. I live on social media. It’s where I do my work, it’s how I become networked with different people and organizations. It’s where I get my news, and often even my inspiration for blog posts and other writing that I do. Over the next 7 days I’ll post a daily entry on my progress. So if it interests you, follow me! Or perhaps you just want to be entertained by my pain over the next week, and that’s OK to. Either way follow my progress and feel free to make comments as the week goes on.
Man Sues Facebook
The father of a 12 year old is suing Facebook because his daughter keeps creating accounts and posting sexually explicit photos of herself. In addition to that she was also posting personal information 
online such as: her cell phone number, address, and school. The girl was in the care of a voluntary care center. He is suing Facebook because he says that Facebook is not reinforcing it’s own age policy. The argument is being made that Facebook is creating an environment where ”a risk of sexual and physical harm for the child” and is therefore being negligent.
The court papers say that the father will “seek an injunction ordering Facebook to close down his daughter’s account and stop her from opening another one”. Furthermore the papers say that if that doesn’t happen, he “will seek an injunction to stop Facebook from operating in Northern Ireland”. Good luck to that, unrealistic much?
In a statement the father says “I was horrified when I saw the photographs my daughter had posted of herself on the site. She is far too young to understand what she is doing. She suffers problems and engages in self-destructive behavior. She is currently receiving counseling.”
So where does the responsibility belong? On the parents or on the social networking sites?
I think Facebook has some issues to work out, especially when it comes to privacy. But I don’t think that you can hold the company responsible if your child is acting irresponsibly on the internet. Call me crazy but is it not the responsibility of her father to ensure he knows what his child is doing? Am I the only one here that has a problem with this man? His lawyer argues An age check, like asking for a passport number, would be a simple measure for Facebook to implement.” First of all, Facebook doesn’t need my passport number or drivers license number. Second, what about those people who don’t have a passport number, or drivers license? And Third, we need to really examine how much responsibility Facebook should be taking on for the behaviours of your children.
This child obviously has other issues that need to be addressed, and her problem is not going to be solved because you find away from keeping her from accessing Facebook. She could upload those pictures online at other sites simply by putting in a fake birthday. Also, if she is 12 now I can only assume that she’ll be 13 within the next year and will be back at it with the same behaivour (since Facebook says you must be 13 years of age to sign up). This child is posting sexual pictures of herself on the internet. Should we not be focusing on the why? Should her parents not be trying to stop her from doing this? If she is living at a care center why has her internet not been cut for her own protection? Why aren’t we asking all these questions?
Don’t get me wrong I understand that as a parent you can’t stop your child from doing everything especially in this technology enhanced world. Which is why I say if it weren’t Facebook it would be something else. This child clearly needs some help. But parents need to take the responsibility in this age of technology to make their children understand about the dangers of online activity. It should be as normal as teaching a child not to take candy from a stranger, or to look both ways before crossing the street.
It’s interesting because over on babble.com parents with underage kids who had Facebook were criticizing a school principle who was calling for a ban on Facebook at schools and asking parents to take their children’s profiles down. Some of their responses were: “Get back to teaching”, “quit trying to usurp my authority”, “A school has no right to tell my child what he can and cannot do on his own time, in his own home.” And “will you stand for the school telling you what video games and music your child is permitted to play at home?” It would seem that there is infighting between parents, schools, and institutions about where responsibility lies.
My solution is you should all stop arguing with each other and protect your children, when you are teaching them about taking candy from strangers you should also be teaching them about the internet. Education is the key, and getting your children help when they need it.
Woman Lives Without Money… for 15 years.
I came across this story online while I was looking for something else. It’s not crime but I 
think it’s completely worth blogging about. Heidemarie Schwermer, now 69, gave up using money 15 years ago and says she is happier then she has ever been.
Before she gave up her money Schwermer worked as a teacher for 20 years but then went through a rough divorce. After she went through that hard time she moved herself and two small children to Dortmund, Germany where she was taken aback by all the homelessness. She wanted to help solve some of the problems so she opened up a shop called “Gib und Nimm” (Give and Take). The premises of the shop was to trade stuff and skills for other things and skills. Her idea didn’t really pan out for the homeless as they often told her that a middle aged white women, such as herself, had no idea and could never relate to them. What she did find was happening was that she was overwhelmed with the unemployed and retired needing to trade their skills for things.
After running the shop that way for a while she realized she was incredibly unhappy and was accumulating a lot of stuff, and junk. In 1996 she sold everything she had and started to live out of her suitcase. Exchanging her skills for shelter, food, and clothing. “I am never short of food, clothing or friends and I have so much less stress in my life these days. I am not ruled by money, or bills, or greed. I just let go.”
Schwermer has since written two books on living without money but has her published pass on the money “I told them to give it to charity then it can make many people happy instead of just one.”
“I am even healthier. I’ve hardly seen a doctor in 15 years and I’m as fit as a fiddle. I don’t even worry about the future any more. I just live in the moment and enjoy every second,” she said.
The sociologist in me wants to say that she is using money it’s just a different type of currency. Barter and exchange is not uncommon and is known as Reciprocity. Entire cultures base their economics off of an informal exchange of skills for goods and services. Cultural Anthropologists would say that the Semai people are a good example of this. The Semai have a gift economy and everything they have works off of barter and exchange.
All that said. I think it’s incredible that she has been able to do that in the ‘industrialized world’ where the temptations of technology are all around us. Personally, I don’t know what I would do without my iPhone and Facebook.
3 year old Still Missing from BC -Update: Amber Alert Canceled
Three-year-old Kienan Hebert is still missing tonight after he went missing from his home Wednesday morning. Police suspect Randall Hopley, 46 of kidnapping the boy. Hopley has an intense criminal record that includes breaking and entering, and sexual assault and was just released from jail last week.
Today the RCMP have asked people in BC to start searching their vacant properties for any sign of forced entry. “See if there’s anything suspicious, any sign of break-ins, anything stolen,” RCMP told reporters . They are also asking business to review survelliance tape for any sign of either Kienan or Hopley “We ask that you review them.
If you see something, and you believe you have images of the suspect or the vehicle, please contact police.”
CTV reported today that volunteers were searching the woods by the families home for any sign of him today but have turned up nothing.
Kienan was last seen Tuesday Sept 6 when his parents tucked him in for the night in their home. Police are asking the public to watch for a brown 1987 Toyota Camry with B.C. licence plate 098 RAL. Hopley is white, 5-foot-10, 147 lbs., brown hair and hazel eyes. Please call 911 if you see the car, or either Kienan, or the suspect.
Update September 10, 2011: Amber Alert Extended to Alberta on a limited basis. Pictures will be displayed on Alberta highways this weekend and the public is still being asked to keep their eyes open for the pair.
Update: amber alert canceled! Herbert was dropped off around 3 am this morning say RCMP. More to come…
Call Sparwood RCMP with any information at 1-250-425-6233.
