To each his own. No two people are exactly equal on how they use Facebook in terms of time and what they are actually doing.
My friends who deleted their accounts like I did have all said it's such a liberating feeling because now, by not being on it, do they truely realize how much time they have.
In addition, if it was so important, how are they surviving without it? I am and have more time yet I wasn't on but once a day at most.
One friend admitted to being on for close to 3 hours every night and she has 2 small kids! Her husband grew sick of it fast as instead of sitting with him at night and catching up on the day, she would be camped out on the computer. Many of you might not do that, but many people do. I proved I don't need it by deleting it and my life is fine.
In this day and age of cell phones (calling and texting) calling free around the country, skype, and not to mention email, there are better ways to make contact.
Those who wish to post pictures, video, accomplishments, etc.... and are obsessed with checking in to see who responded and what they said. Yes, you know who you are and there is a lot of truth to that, as others have already pointed out.
This person or that person who wants to post what they are cooking every night for dinner and then waiting for a response to reply as to how good it was.
Friending people so they can read that Steve had an upset stomach last night and then looking for sympathy.
Posting race pictures and incessantly bragging about how much better they were and how fast they would have run if they didn't cramp up at 19 miles. Then 20 responses come. You are great, you can do better next time.
That is insecurity at it's best. Why? Most of the people reading it, all 200 friends, won't be people that you will ever see unless you are counting reunions that may or may not happen. Of course if you are in high school, that wouldn't apply.
Some will say, that's the point, to keep them up on your doings. To me, I say why? These people aren't your loved ones and you didn't feel the need to share things with these people before Facebook so why now?
A high school teammate loves to go on and talk about how he won the 30-34 or 30-39 division. Of course, he fails to mention that there was only 5 people in his division and they were joggers. Does it bother me, heck no, but I would be embarrassed to post such comments.
True story. The person above actually emailed me and asked me why I don't comment on his race results or his photos. I emailed back that I have my own life with my wife and family and don't have his kind of time. I also asked why is so important that I make a response. He said well on Facebook, that's what people do. To be perfectly honest, he was pissed off at me and the bizzare thing is that I hadn't even seen the post. He lives on there, I didn't.
Can there be a balance, sure. Many people on this thread are proof of that, but my post isn't about them, it was about those who are literally obsessed and don't truely realize the "time sucker" that Facebook is and how it is controlling a lot of what they do and more importantly, don't do.
I realize that many people are not going to agree with me and that's fine. But many aren't telling the truth and are obsessed.