After four years (or more) I have returned to Facebook. After much thought and heartburn, I decided to rejoin. I don't like Facebook. But everyone else seems to love it or like it (click like) and face it (no pun intended) people don't communicate the same way they used to ten years ago. So I sit here in the dark most of the time. I can't change the world. I can either join or be left behind.
I left Facebook after having spent a whole day at a holiday craft show sitting next to someone's booth who was a "friend" on FB. We never spoke, not once.
So I decided then to do an experiment to test my hypothesis that making new real live warm human body friends was still possible for someone over 50, you know, the kind you call, stop by to see, spend real time with?
Not counting the women in a group I faciliate, here are the results of my study.
New real live human body friends made since leaving Facebook - 0
Projected pretend data friends that I might have made if I stayed on Facebook - 2245
Effort extended - 85%
Emotional status - very dejected and sad
I imagine when the telephone came to be, there were some hold outs there too. They probably found themselves nodding politely while there friends and family spoke of conversations with so and so on their new Westinghouse telephone.
I am tired of saying "where did you hear about that?" "Facebook".
I still do not like FB. I still much prefer human contact. I feel in order to be part of this changing world I have to comply. As the Borg say, resistance is futile.
Now let's see how many friends I make. The race is on.
I have friends on F* and I don't have a clue who they are. One very nice woman comments on my photos I share. I don't know her from page 8 in the phonebook. But I "like" that she comments. I can no longer keep track of the groups I belong to, who contributes, which are closed and which are open, which posts automatically post elsewhere, and I just signed up to write for an online magazine that wants me to share my social media presence on about a dozen sites I never heard of. Digg? Reddit? And I need to do this using an app called #slack. Oy. That said, I am still happy to be your friend. Even on F*.
ReplyDeleteI am willing to stop by for coffee, write songs, eat acorn flour baked goods....call me.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone REALLY like Facebook?. Do we feel forced to use it, because "everyone else" is using it?
ReplyDeleteKinda ironic that I feel frustrated that I cannot automatically friend you on FB because you don't have your FB link. I will persevere and later try to connect with your words of wisdom there.
ReplyDeleteSearch for me you'll find me. Homebase, Planet Earth.
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