I am constantly getting bugged for my lack of effort on Facebook. I'll admit...it's pretty pathetic! Until recently, after being kindly reminded by a friend, my profile picture was a shot of Josiah...from when he was one week old. So I replaced it with his one year shot, and hope that I don't need to think about this again for another year!
Here are some of my problems (and they belong to me, not Facebook, or anyone else who uses it who may not share my problems at all :)!) :
1) I am not gregarious at all, and prefer fewer, close relationships.There are people on Facebook looking at my pictures and my personal stuff who do not care to have a non-electronic relationship (I mean people who live within the Maritimes!).
2) It sometimes feels like a substitute for relationships. Social networking (including blogs) can easily replace face-to-face time.
3) It feels too surface, and it kind of has to be since everyone sees it! I wish everyone had blogs instead.
4) It has all of those cheesy factors, like posting ten things about you which I am constanly rebuffing (sorry guys!). Not to mention your bra colour- yikes!
5) Chris is not a big fan due to associated problems he encounters at work, so his feelings rub off on me.
6) It is used to sell stuff/social agendas, which I try to keep separate from my friendships.
7) It can swallow a lot of my time when I get into it.
8) It forces me to talk about myself in the third person, which feels creepy or junior high-'ish'.
So why don't I pull the plug? I think about it often! But I have really enjoyed seeing the photo albums of friends. I have had the benefit of re-connecting to people I have lost touch with over the years. I often choose to contact people through private mail, so it is kind of like a fancy email account. And, I would never see or hear from some aside from Facebook, therefore I need it! So I hang on...just in case you've ever wondered!
3 comments:
Hi Jenn, long lost friend here. I just found your blog whether you wanted me to or not :) and was excited to read this post! I actually deleted, sorry deactivated (you can't delete your account you can only deactivate it, which frustrated me), over 2 years ago and have not looked back since. Sure I miss it for some of the reasons you mentioned, like friend's pics, but for the most part the negatives outweighed the positives to me. I do share the same views as Chris on this as well, perhaps it's a counselor thing :) Regardless, fun to read and I look forward to blog stalking you!
Erin- Glad you found us! It seems like most people don't share my view of Facebook, which is all good, but it's nice to have comany when you're feeling like an odd ball! Hope things are going well for you.
Some excellent points here, Jenn! If there were a #9, for me it would be agonizing over whether to accept some of the requests I've received.I have to admit that I find myself feeling guilt over pushing the "ignore" button and reluctantly "accepting" a few because I was afraid they would challenge me on it when I met them.
On the other hand, there are days when I especially enjoy the interaction with those I never get to see face-to-face. Like any tool, it needs to be used with care.
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