My friends complained - "but how will I keep in touch with youuuu!?", and about 30 seconds after deleting it I was hit with withdrawals. I brought up the page, wanting to log on, NEEDING to know what was going on in my friend's lives.
But, that feeling quickly passed.
I deleted facebook for a few reasons, but my main being; I hate it.
I thought it was somewhat creepy that people who I barely talked to in high school could log on, 'stalk' my page and judge me based on the minimal information I posted, or that other people posted to me. I thought it was weird that people would want to 'check in' wherever they were to show to all their friends what they were doing and with who, at all hours of the day.
I was also annoyed that I would only just meet people, and within 12 hours there was a friend request. My name is quite common, so I'm not easy to find on facebook to start with, which shows serious dedication on their behalf. But on another note - I just met you, why do you now want to know everything about my life?
So, about a year ago, I started culling my friends list. Regularly. I kept the number constantly below 200.
But then I realised there were people on there that I was only friends with by obligation. Deleting them might start some passive/aggressive feud between us that I never intended. So they stayed being 'my friend' even though I didn't feel too great about it.
And that brings up the next point - social networking etiquette.
It frustrated me to no end that nobody seemed to have any manners when on facebook. RSVP'ing was a major irk for me (as seen in this blog post), as was the general unwritten rules surrounding commenting on photos, walls, and even adding photos of other people and tagging them and whatnot.
What was no issue for some, was a major issue for others, and I really just could not keep up with the crap any more.
I realised that I was
For the most part, I wasn't even using facebook to 'stay connected' with my friends and family.
Admittedly, I did have family members on there whose lives I won't know that much about, but they have my email address, should they want to get in contact with me.
Most of my close friends I never even spoke to on facebook. Lunch dates and weekends are organised via text message. Studying is done via skype. Lengthy catch-ups are done over coffee or over the telephone.
So facebook wasn't even fulfilling the one thing it says on its homepage that it does.
Add to that the constant changing of security settings that occur without my consent or knowledge, and I'm not totally over the moon with Zuckerberg at the moment.
I don't think that all social networking sites are bad - not at all.
Clearly not, as I have a blog and a twitter. But with both of these outlets I have more control over what gets published and what gets seen. Twitter is a lot less self-involved than facebook is, which I like.
And although some may argue that blogging is only done by people obsessed with themselves or seeking some form of self-gratification by talking about themselves, I beg to differ. Not that I'm going to get into that at the moment, but I have met some awesome people through this and I love that.
I was worried that I would feel 'out of the loop' from my friends, and would have no idea what's going on. It's only been a week, but so far I don't feel like that at all. I don't even miss it!
Besides, it's so refreshing being able to tell stories, or hear stories from friends without the seemingly cliche' "oh yeah, I heard about that on facebook"
What about you? Do you love or loathe facey? Would you ever consider deactivating yours?
