So I decided it was time to leave Facebook, and deactivated my account. I never really used it much anyway. Aside from all the recent privacy issues, Facebook just seemed too much of a time sink, plus was getting filled with more “friends” (acquaintances) and crap every day. To me, there was a part of Facebook that just died the day it opened up to anyone and everyone.
I guess it was sort of neat to know what “friends” were up to whenever I logged in, but eventually I realized that it just kept me further from my true friends. Sometimes I got sucked away into trading quality time with someone for a brief message. Also, I really didn’t like compressing the past several years of my life into a reply comment for “Hey remember me? How have you been? What have you been up to?” wall posts. While it may be more difficult to stay in touch with some people, I think true relationships and friendships can and will last outside of a Facebook “friend”.
Hmm, I wonder what “Google Me” will be like…
Update 1: Now, Places is yet another reason you might decide to quit Facebook. Also, Facebook is a huge database of information for marketing/advertisers to do data-mining on.
Update 2: Related quote on motivation I agree with:
I spent hours on Facebook and wasted valuable time I could be spending [insert hobby here]. But that’s not the real reason social networking is a motivation killer for me. By the time I finish reading all of my family and friends’ status updates, I am usually left processing other people’s thoughts, frustrations, goals and successes instead of focusing my energy on my own thoughts and motivation. All my creative energy starts channeling into solving and mulling over my friends’ mini-crises and I never end up channeling that creative energy into [insert hobby here].
Update 3: This guy basically sums up my feelings about quiting Facebook, but in better words than I could have done.
Update 4: I have so much more time now I don’t log into Facebook to check mostly useless status updates from “friends”, although there is definitely more effort involved in trying to keep up with the people I do care about.
8===D~~