I have considered getting rid of mine on multiple occasions. Once even had a conversation about whether or not I was too old for facebook with a friend over facebook. The conclusion was that we both were (at least my conclusion), but that it is too valuable of a communication tool. I use it probably 3-5 times a week, sometimes a week goes by and I don't use it though. But I'm still not sure I could delete it.
Facebook is just like any other addiction. If you control it, it will not control you. If you lack self-control, then by all means deactivate. However, most adults on Facebook have more sense than as suggested on here. By adults, I mean those with older kids, not the 20 something group of alcoholics that call themselves adults just because of their age.
former northern cal wrote:
True story:
Yeah, you can untag stuff ... but not before you get burned.
A certain very fast female runner now lives in a large city. She became a model. She was in a runway show which required her to paint her body instead of wear clothes.
A chic city photographer from the show posted her pictures on facebook. She's big city girl now and it's cool in such a cosmo community? Well, it's not cool for her considering she has a lot of friends from college and whatnot.
Anyway, someone copied the pics before she could take them down. Then they circulated to all her old teammates, etc.
If you want the pics I got them on my computer.
Megan Kaltenbach?
Oh man, my mom saw a pic of me with a beer in my hand and flipping the bird - double trouble. I received calls for days on how I was making horrible decisions with my life. I had to go to a prayer meeting to seek help for my "addictions." I ended my facebook acct, but I live through one of my friends accounts. It is soo addicting and interesting, but I dont want to get in trouble again with my parents.
reality man 3 wrote:
Honestly, it's like a stupid cult following.
Dude, there are over 500 Million active users on the site. Active users are defined as people who sign in at least once a week.
Hardly a cult.
I agree with you for the most part. If it weren't for work, I don't think I would still be active.
People use it in different ways, not everyone is a bragging douche. I am 31 and have about 800 friends, most of which are current offline friends and business associates from around the country.
It is not just kids using FB, I am friends with the Head of Communications for a dozen major metropolitan hospital chains. People making seven figures. The kicker is that they use it all the time.
I use it to share pictures with family, etc. I don't update my status at all. I message people and generally stay in touch with others, but nothing too time intensive. Basically, when you have business associates across the country, it can help your relationship with them.
Certain industries would black ball you for not involving yourself in social media. For instance, if you want to get into PR, Communications, Crises Management, Marketing, etc - you better damn well have a presence online.
Just food for thought.
tiskpak wrote:
I never had a facebook. Like I want to get messages from some girlfriend from 4000 years ago??? No thank you. Thats why I moved out of Ur, to get away from all that.
I have powers of mental telepathy, I don't know why I'm even on the internet, for that matter.
wow, you're old man.
still afraid of my parents wrote:
Oh man, my mom saw a pic of me with a beer in my hand and flipping the bird - double trouble. I received calls for days on how I was making horrible decisions with my life. I had to go to a prayer meeting to seek help for my "addictions." I ended my facebook acct, but I live through one of my friends accounts. It is soo addicting and interesting, but I dont want to get in trouble again with my parents.
This has nothing to do with anything. People can still post pictures of you, identify you via tags (just not using a hyperlink) when you don't have an account.
My little sister had been holding out b/c she claimed she didn't want her picture posted online. Finally over Christmas she folded and signed up. Low and behold, she is tagged in like 100 pictures.
People still post info about you whether you are a member or not. The question is whether you want to control the flow of information or just hope it turns out okay...
I still see pics of you wrote:
This has nothing to do with anything. People can still post pictures of you, identify you via tags (just not using a hyperlink) when you don't have an account.
My little sister had been holding out b/c she claimed she didn't want her picture posted online. Finally over Christmas she folded and signed up. Low and behold, she is tagged in like 100 pictures.
People still post info about you whether you are a member or not. The question is whether you want to control the flow of information or just hope it turns out okay...
This is true. It is irresponsible to be willfully ignorant.
Funny. I deleted mine and now 3 months later I'm back on - but I'm only adding friends. Cause seriously, my family's whacked.
you ll be back wrote:
I got rid of mine. Then a year later I created a new one intending just to add my family. I have some other "friends" on it though now. But I'm happy I'm no longer friends with people from high school and college.
Guppy wrote:
The people on this thread get way to into things I think. If you don't want stupid people on your facebook, don't add them. If someone posts stupid things, don't read it or don't let it bother you. If you don't want people seeing stupid pics of you or info about you, don't put it on or change your privacy settings.
As for being addicted, I really don't understand that. I mean, it just doesn't make any sense to me. I realize people do get addicted, but it's just so different from how I look at and use facebook that I can't understand it. I use facebook to keep in touch with many people I otherwise would not (friends from high school, friends who live across the country, extended family, etc). They're not people I would call to wish Merry Christmas, but they're people who I've enjoyed time with, and through facebook we can still share a few laughs or thoughts from time to time through comments, videos, etc, and this goes for my close friends as well.
For the most part I think the people who think facebook is the antichrist are as silly as the ones playing farmville 3 hours a day. If your life is better without facebook, however, more power to you.
Agree with this guy. I have a Facebook. I use it when I want (once or twice a week). I don't post status updates or read other people's crap on a daily basis (or ever really).
So I'm thinking to myself (and I type really fast) it would have taken me about 20 minutes to compose, type, proofread, and feel comfortable with releasing a post as long as OP.
I'm pretty sure you've gone straight from crack to heroin if you think you'll be less obsessed with LRC.
If you have an o.c.d. type personality, you've gotten yourself into a bad situation by coming here to vent.
I play in a couple of different bar bands and use Facebook to get the word out to all my friends when/where I'm playing next. I kinda like it better than emailing everybody all the time about it. I feel like they can "opt out" on their own. So, I guess I would say I like Facebook for this kind of stuff.
I went through a divorce that was basically publicized throughout facebook as me and the ex-wife shared many mutual friends. Not a fun experience.
You never said you were divorced. Now all of these things come into light. Dad living in your studio apartment, old wife in the mix.
Man, you are a troll.
Vertigo wrote:
Here's how I deal: I put up a front page only on FB with my pic (so people know it's me), pretty much no other info but a link to my blog. No friending, unfriending, status, blahblah.
It has worked well: more traffic on my blog, a few old friends reconnecting, but I spend ZERO time dealing with networking bullshit.
FB is a perfect place for teenage girls, not grown adults IMO.
Brilliant!
weingartner wrote:
Once again, as a disclaimer, I know there are smarter people than me who know how to use facebook properly. But does anyone else feel detested with the culture of facebook? How it has the power to eat away at your sanity because of people and comments that promote gossip and negativity rather than what they should be promoting? Anyone feel me on this? Part of my dismay may also be the effect of the types of people I'm connected to.
Your experience doesn't resonate with mine at all. Believe me, there are a lot of things I dislike about facebook, primarily the privacy settings. The privacy issues alone make me loath myself for logging in as often as I do.
But I don't think I've ever seen a negative comment or gossip about myself or any of my friends on facebook, unless it was obviously in jest. I cannot think of a single instance.
My friends post pictures, mention interesting or exciting or annoying things that have happened or are happening in their lives, or write longer notes about what's been happening. They also post links for people to look at or interesting events or things they've found.
Honestly, this sounds like a problem with YOU, not facebook, and possibly but probably not your friends.
I couldn't wait to finiss reading these thre pages of post so - I can go check my FB----- Gone !
My friend deleted her facebook 2 years ago. Then one day she decided to see what would happen if she tried to sign back on with her "canceled" username and password... the next screen said "are you sure you would like to reactivate your account?" She clicked YES and EVERYTHING WAS STILL THERE! Like she never left. All her friends, pictures, wall posts.. etc.
so if you want to delete facebook, do it yourself by removing friends, deleting photos..etc. OR just have some self control and dont sign in.
BECAUSE IT ISN'T GOING ANYWHERE! ZUCKERBURG OWNS YOU NOW!
When I stop making bowel movements!
weingartner wrote:
There is a lot to say about facebook. I got into it my freshman year in college five years ago. As of two days ago, I elected to finally dump it. I sent an e-mail to
privacy@facebook.com. I recently got an e-mail saying that the process to permanently delete was underway and will be finished in no more than 14 days.
It was not a tough decision. It was rather an overdue move that was the result of an impulsive decision. I could have left facebook much earlier, as I was aware of the terrible effect it was having on my psyche not long after joining it. But my delay was due to my addiction to facebook. During my time as a member, I wanted to stay aboard in the event I missed something if I left (i.e. an unexpected friend or family member of mine joining facebook). Or an opportunity to post a photo album down the road which may lead to lots of comments and subsequent "fame" amongst the facebook community. The latter motivation seems a bit out there, but is inevitably a factor into why many people seem to stay on facebook. Facebook is, after all, a popularity contest.
I was the type of facebooker that created a status every day or two. I am aware that a healthy medium may have been reached with some thoughtfulness, like many achieve, where use is far more seldom. This method still allows for remaining in contact with friends without the need to be in everyone's faces all the time in their newsfeeds. But, my personality is that - I thrive off of getting peoples' attention. I don't mean this in a bad way. I used to write about many different things which resulted in, mainly, the same types of people responding. I almost felt like I needed to live up to the image I was creating for others to banter with. While I did not lie or embellish my outside life to my facebook friends, I did feel an obligation to the people who kept responding (often family) and those whom I had some meaningful friendship with in the outside world to prolong my communication with them in the event that if I seemed too aloof they'd drop me as a friend. I am not terrified by the prospect of being unfriended, but I am not the type who likes to burn bridges either, especially if it's avoidable.
At the end of the day, these extremely trivial fears caused me to become overwhelmed with friends, friends' lives, and the overall culture that defines facebook. Why did I spend days - weeks - maybe even months of my life on facebook? I really don't think I got anything beneficial out of it. I say the people who "get" facebook use it as merely a supplement to a flourishing social life instead of as a substitute. I have people who I regularly communicate with outside of facebook, so I am not removed from actual social interaction. But it did become a means to shoot the **** to an extent where I became concerned about people and lives that otherwise had no effect on me.
Once again, as a disclaimer, I know there are smarter people than me who know how to use facebook properly. But does anyone else feel detested with the culture of facebook? How it has the power to eat away at your sanity because of people and comments that promote gossip and negativity rather than what they should be promoting? Anyone feel me on this? Part of my dismay may also be the effect of the types of people I'm connected to.
See, I don't understand any of this. It's just people talking to each other. I use FB as a run-centric thing, posting my daily sessions (cus I sure as fvck won't do that here anymore), talking to other runners, and sometimes talking to other family/friends.
I will never understand people with 4000 friends. I mean, how the fvck do you manage to keep up with things? I keep my friends to 100 max, and I post status updates 1-2x most days.
I mean....what is the big deal? Spend an hour max per day talking running / old days / social stuff with PEOPLE YOU KNOW, I don't see the problem.