It starts out harmless enough. Someone approaches you, all friendly and low key and says, "hey, try this out, it's fun. No, really, you'll like it."
In my case there were two culprits: you and you. I can't believe I trusted these fellas.
You sign up and think, hey, this is neat. I can post pictures for free and write sassy messages to my best friends for all the world to see. They can post pictures of me and tag them so that I know everywhere my mug appears on the internet. I don't even need to call or email my friends, nor do I know what's happening in their lives, yet I feel very "in touch" and connected to them.
Then suddenly you're sending "remember me?" messages to your big sister's first camp boyfriend and the old nextdoor neighbour who tied you to a tree in the front yard when you were both four. Your real-life conversations turn from politics to the girl you knew in grade 3 who incessantly sucked her fingers who you haven't heard from since, but is fascinatingly interconnected with multiple people on various levels of your life today.
What's worse is, even if you commit to signing off for a week (which I have) your email inbox is deluged with friend requests, friend detail requests, tag notification and tag requests, group invitations, event invitations, messages on your wall, comments on photos and responses to your photo comments, and worst of them all: "pokes" (which no one seems to understand anyway).
And as much as you hate all of it, you sooooo want to see what so-and-so from highschool's kids ended up looking like, and who the heck they married. You may not have thought of that person in over a decade but it takes every ounce of will power to not check and see what that long-lost acquaintance has written on your wall.
By all means, if you have not already signed up for Facebook, hold steady, do not give in, it will not make your life better, it will only consume you.
SFGirl Says Farewell.
2 years ago
15 comments:
well, well... If I recall... you are the one who made me sign up for facebook... he he he... THANKS ANYWAY!!
your Latin Bro... Jo
hee hee, I'm very much guilty as charged!
i soooo regret signing up. i even stated that i wasn't going to use it cause i had too many blogs. but damn.... it's good. i have a very true love-hate relationship with it. argh.
ps. it was your second "you" that got me too. i think we should report him on peddling blogs to kids.
I'm glad to see that someone else has gotten addicted to it! I was worried that it was just me!
Aha, you too, huh? Facebook has driven me to coin a new term whenever I don't know what's going on on there (e.g. how do I find the menu that does "this"): WHAT THE POKE IS GOING ON HERE?
Did you know you can add the RSS feed from your blog to facebook so that it automagically imports your blog posts as notes? MMmmm hmmmm. Integration, baby.
I jumped on that wagon and thought it was great fun for a few days... haven't had time for it since. What happened to relationships? Maybe we should hop off our computers and make a phone call or take someone out for coffee. (especially when you're spending hours trying to find that 2nd grade boyfriend.)
i'm with you on this one - it's a curse. but, it's remarkably fun to see names from the past, and hear about people you haven't seen for years and years.
once you change your notifications so that facebook doesn't email you for everything that happens, it's not annoying. Under "Account" choose "Notifications". You'll notice that almost everything is selected. Change it and your inbox will be happier. Mine is.
Oh sure...blame me for your addiction. That's like blaming someone for hooking you on cigarettes. Puhlease!
it is getting to that annoying xanga-cracking point already but damn it's a fine distraction at work. especially since my co-workers signed up. if only the bosses knew... hah!
I had that problem with Friendster when I was a senior in college and was supposed to be working on my thesis. Then I discovered that you can turn off notification emails--a glorious thing!--and haven't been back since.
Haha, I hear ya, what a fun waste of time... ;)
i succumbed to the pressure too... ahhh!
yep...I'm on Facebook, but you would never know. I haven't looked at since I signed on - B. Walker
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