I think I’m done with Facebook.
Oh, don’t get me wrong… not long after I joined in August 2008, I became but the latest victim of Acute Facebook Addiction Syndrome. And not long after that, people started remarking about how much I supposedly was on Facebook.
That, and the mundane or purposely cryptic status updates. And your stupid lost cows and Mafia requests. And the quizzes… always with the quizzes: Which member of 98 Degrees are you? Which store in the Mall Car Chase scene from the “Blues Brothers” are you?*
*Myself, I would be Pier 1 Imports.
Tired of the barrage, I temporarily deactivated my Facebook account, but not before I went on a Facebook friend killing spree. After being at something like 297, I whittled it down to like 117. I was Facebook friends with people from high school whom I totally did not remember and had to look up in the yearbook. I was Facebook friends with people whom I had not ever met but somehow was related to. It just got to be too much. I know you can set it to “hide” certain people on the website, but that courtesy was not afforded the Facebook app for iPhone. I still had to see perfect strangers’ scores in Farkle.
I didn’t get on Facebook for about two months, and I didn’t really miss it. Then a coupla weeks ago, after too many beers, I decided I’d get back on to see what I had missed. Turns out, not much. Same old boring status updates and pictures of kids whose parents I don’t know.
And after a coupla weeks of that, I’d resumed a greatly-scaled-back Facebook routine. One day, I left a comment on a friend’s status update, and soon someone else comments after me:
(A.C.)! Why did you unfriend me?
Yeeeeeahhh… I’m done with Facebook. I am a married father of two young children. I have enough drama in real life. I’m not interested in dealing with other people’s drama, especially online, though, so Facebook had to go. This past Friday morning, my existence on Facebook was snuffed out*.
*I posted a snarky final status update bitching about Facebook drama and spelling out my intention to delete my account, and I get a comment to the effect of:
I can’t think of anything more dramatic on Facebook than deleting your account.
Touche, Tim.
I can’t even remember how to login to facebook. Between twitter, blogging and flickr – I’m kept plenty busy. I have to draw the line somewhere.
Ever since my office started blocking facebook I rarely get on it anymore. You’re spot on with the stupid quizzes and games. Also people don’t realize that those pointless apps are granted access to information you thought was private on your profile. I think my only motivation now to keep my facebook account is to post my photos, view event pages from my friends, and keep in contact with local business pages. But those Farmville updates are mind-numbing enough to make you throw your computer out the window. I kick every lost black sheep I see.
But how will anybody know you exist if you’re not on Facebook? How will anybody know what you’re doing right now? That kind of anonymity could seriously damage someone’s ability to be less self-involved and everyone else’s ability to be a perpetual voyeur.
That’s great news, Mr. Communist. You’re out of the Matrix. Do you know kung fu?
Thanks for the link to the Alleged Show site, man. I think I speak for many when I say that we’ll miss your wit ’round abouts the Facebook.
Hate to see you go, but I can’t blame you.
You’re the one that persuaded me to join the Facebooks last year in the first place, and now I’m one of those dorks to whom you alluded that can’t NOT log on and do stupid farm games and Farkle dice games and what not. I AM slowly phasing it out, though, as it’s all just too time-intensive (and, quite frankly, boring) to keep up with most of those stupid-ass games.
I’ll be expecting many more wacky and insightful tweets from you now, since you’ve cut the FB umbilicus…
It’s not that playing those games is bad… I tried Mafia Wars (or one of its 700 variants) and got hooked on Baseball Tycoon for a spell.
My beef is with people who think I care that they got a new fish for their aquarium or got a platinum medal in Bejeweled Blitz. They’re not required to post that shit.
You were only one I cared about on Twitter, Youtube, and Facebook though…Youtwitface.
I agree with you, Jeff. Facebook is a big waste of time, and what most people write is inane. Who cares that someone made soup and then cleaned up the kitchen, or that they’re tired, and glad it’s Friday? The questions provided for us to answer are really dumb. It’s another example of the tech age excluding the necessity of people socializing and in personal interaction with each other. Anyone who really wants to impart information to someone uses regular e-mail, a phone, or (dare I say it?) regular mail.
reading a feed where you commented and then others, namely troy, commented after you, or ‘lol’ed after you .. now your comment is gone from the feed so it makes no sense at all .. but it reads funnier now than it did before
I decided this year to have a digital identity. So I started using facebook (and twitter).
Before, online social networking never seemed very appealing. I remember a freshman friend in college invited me over on a Friday night. She was more involved in her virtual chat room than participating in a “real” chat in the dorm room. What was the point? Real life is happening away from the computer screen.
Since then more of my life has become digital, more resources are online and I have professional reasons to be surfing the web. It’s easier to understand the point now. It can be an interactive forum.
Facebook was so fascinating. I moved away from Springfield in the mid 90’s, and lost touch with most people from high school. At the 15 year reunion, I felt like I was in a room full of familiar strangers. With fb, it was great to be reacquainted with high school friends, see photos and be able to converse with people I was most curious about.
The parts i don’t like: not knowing who is picking up feeds of conversations between mutual friends, posts about games I don’t play,quizzes and gifts. I appreciate the “hugs” and “smiles”, but I’m not reciprocating the gesture. Oh and not knowing what people are looking at. If someone doesn’t leave a comment, there is no way of knowing who has seen what info.
The parts I do like: finding people, the networking possibilities, finding humor and feeling more aware of what “friends” find important in their lives. It’s interesting what people post: little details or thoughts, successful accomplishments, or feelings.
On one side is my curious anthropologist mind and my social self participating in the fb arena, the other side is my thoughts of “i don’t have time for this nothingness time suck.I need to be doing something productive.”
Now, I have to have specific tasks I want to do on fb
so I don’t get lost in time and space. My fb page can’t keep up with my life. I’m too busy living.
All of this rambling is from a curiosity on the realness of virtual living and the emerging age of humans as cyborgs. Thank you iphone!
I like your former neighbor’s comment. “But how will anybody know you exist if you’re not on Facebook? How will anybody know what you’re doing right now?”
How important is it to be interacting on networking sites?
Jeff, I verbalized these digital thoughts because I consider you to be a peer with “computer awareness”. I remember your Dad teaching our 4th grade computer classes.
I assume you had a computer at home from an early age and have logged in more hours and are overall more familiar with computers than most people.
I had one more Facebook thought. I do see it being used successfully by people advertising events and shows. That’s a big plus for local performers and artists to get the word out for gigs at the clubs and theaters.
[...] of Facebook, Gowalla does seem an awful lot like those irritating games on Facebook that I recently railed against. I know, I know… I’m a complex [...]