A secret so shameful that I fear being hunted down, pursued through the streets by a slavering, dead-eyed mob and beaten with sticks.
A secret so shocking and scandalous that I hesitate to even whisper it.
*I don't like Facebook*
There.
I've said it.
Having dropped that bombshell, and while awaiting the opprobrium which will surely descend, I may as well enlarge upon my declaration.
I not only don't like it, I don't get it.
What exactly is the point?
Oh I know it's all about social networking yada yada yada but really.....
What IS the point?
I could go on all day about the things I dislike about Facebook. It's inexorable advance across the globe, the fact that almost everyone I know is seemingly joined at the hip with it.
The fragmented and messy 'design' presumably intended to appeal to the generations who have the attention span of a goldfish with ADHD. And don't even get me started on the plethora of games, time wasting widgets and virtual worlds (Farmville, MyZoo, YoVille) which are more addictive than crack cocaine.
It's not just Facebook I don't like. Other bastions of social networking leave me similarly cold..... Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn.
I am proud to declare that I have never poked anyone, written on anyone's wall, or, gods forbid, thrown a sheep at anyone.
My only virtual vice is a fondness for Blogger. Which feels positively arcane compared to FB et al. Perhaps it appeals to my solitary soul, but when I write a blog post I can imagine myself in the computer equivalent of Virginia Woolf's 'Room of My Own'. It doesn't really matter to me whether or not anyone reads what I write. It is gratifying that some people do, but it isn't the primary motivating factor.
I just enjoy writing and do it for my own enjoyment. However, the pressure to be on Facebook is becoming overwhelming. Increasingly, social events consist of people rehashing all of their FB interaction over the previous day in a language I don't understand.
As a FB denier I feel like a social pariah, which strangely, is rather comforting and not at all unpleasant. In fact I might even start up an anti-facebook social networking group in protest.
Care to join.........?
11 comments:
Oh Yes a girl after my own heart! How i agree with you - It would seem that all of my family contact each other this way now - I would much prefer a phone call or even a writen note - at least they would be in a language that i understand - on FB it takes forever to work out what is being writen and then i usually give up and ignore it - iv stopped asking what things mean as some of the responces to a simple question are unprintable. Anyway can i been your 1st member?!
Sandra English
I am not on Facebook either. The only social network (except for blogger that is ;) I am taking part in, is Polish classmates net just because I live in a city that lies far away from the city my high school was.;)Somehow I don't feel I need Facebook at all( althought because of this, I couldn't participate in two give-aways made by our blogging Friends.;D)
I don't blame you at all, Sandra. I resisted FB for a long time, until I moved across country last year. Then I finally gave in and signed up. I've found I really do like it for keeping in touch with my long-distance friends and family, I like the immediacy of knowing what's going on in their lives. Makes me feel like I'm not so far away. I keep my "friends" list pretty small, just those people I really do know and want to be in regular communication with.
However, there are those people who feel the need to post every 10 minutes: "I'm going to the store!" "I'm at the store!" "Should I buy this at the store?" "I'm home from the store!" "I just painted my fingernails!" "I just shoved my arm up my cow's **** to see if she's ready to calf yet, and it wrecked my nail polish!" "I'm cooking dinner!" :| Yeah, more than I needed to know, and remind me not to eat dinner at your house next time I visit!
- Grace
Oh YES - me too!
Count me in.
Rx
I'm not on FB either and have no intention of joining it. Where do these people find the TIME?
You are not alone!
I'm not on Facebook either. Not only because I don't fancy it but for other reasons too. You are NOT alone!!
Blogger is the only online social thing I do. :o))
Michelle xx
I totally agree with you. Blogger is my addiction but FB doesn't really appeal to me.
I loved the quoting of Room of My Own. That's why my blog is called a Stanza aka The Room.
Have a nice day, Rosanna
I joined but don't understand it. Poking??? What does that mean? I do go in occasionally to have a look but get bored before I have been in two minutes.
I have virtually lost contact with a friend because that is all she uses.
I can't even get into my own home page - if I actually have one.
Hi Sandra
I am on FB!
There I've said it...and I quite like it..though I am NOT joined at the hip with it.
We have something in Brackley called Gossip Girls which is for sharing news, selling, buying and making appointments etc.
We, the girls of Brackley, have caught two thieves and countered countless anti social behaviours by swapping information. One was caught within ten minutes of perpetrating the crime!
That's gotta be good.....
:)
Suex
Thanks for the comments girls. Good to know I'm not the only one!
You are not alone Sandra. I joined facebook recently after resisting for ages. I do not understand a lot of it and really just use it to publise my dolls. Jain
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