For a long time I have been very vocal about my pursuits against ever opening a Facebook account. It's not that I am against social networking, I blog, I tweet, I wiki, I Glog. I can definitely appreciate social media and the power it has to drive creativity, motivation, education, and connect like-minded people for purposeful reasons. Facebook, on the other hand, is totally intrusive in my opinion and often the root of evil for most people...whether they have an account or not.
Michelle Obama seems to agree and recently spoke out against her daughters signing up for FB, saying, "It's not something they need." They don't. No child or even adult for that matter does. Humans have been capable of making friends, sharing memories and photo albums, and connecting for thousands of years (well, photos are more of a last hundred years or so thing). In the Good Morning America video report on FB they report that most people find the age of fifteen to be appropriate for a user to sign up on FB. I know people who are in their forties that aren't responsible enough for an account, yet there they are, broadcasting their news and the lives of others, everyday, ruining relationships and often their own image.
GMA also includes an interview with a mother and daughter. The daughter pouts, "I am the only kid out of all of my friends that doesn't have facebook," and then looks completely defeated before the clip cuts to something else. Guess what? I too am the only one out of all of my friends (and most of my family) that doesn't have Facebook. I am still able to maintain meaningful relationships with everyone I care about, despite not being updated on what they did last night and their current state of mood every two minutes.
Here are a list of reasons I personally find FB to be annoying, unproductive, and damaging:
1. I don't have a Facebook account yet pictures of me are all over the accounts of my friends and family. This is particularly annoying because I have repeatedly asked each one to please not post pictures of me, yet whether it is out of pure defiance, irresponsibility, carelessness, lack of self control, lack of respect, or what, I am still being posted on the site. I have even been in heated discussions over who owns the pictures - me, because I am in them, or the person who is posting them, because they took them.
2. I have seen FB ruin many friendships and intimate relationships, especially among the thirty-to-forty somethings. It always starts the same. "Oh, I will just sign up for FB. It's not like I am going to go on it everyday. I just want to do it to watch over my kids." Before you know it they have connected with too many damaging people from their past and are sneaking away from the dinner table to check the status of their ex-boyfriend from twenty years ago. Partners get upset (rightfully so), and often this behavior leads to an emotional and sometimes physical affair. Of course this is possible without FB, but I hardly doubt the chances of someone running in to a lover from their past in the grocery store are as likely to finding them, stalking them, befriending them, and flirting with them on FB.
3. Things get misinterpreted on FB. Friends and families get torn apart my something someone posted on some one's wall. (Please note I have never been on FB and my terminology is based on what I hear other people say and a brief Internet search).
4. People feel the need to further ruin their relationships by posting every little, possibly incriminating, detail about their partners and friends.
5. Those of us who do not have FB accounts have no control over what gets posted, which is very annoying (I know I basically mentioned this when I wrote about the pictures, but it really fries my pancakes). I hate nothing more than when someone says, "Oh, looks like you had fun last weekend! I saw your pictures on so-and-so's account!" usually so-and-so is someone I have asked to stop posting pictures. Go ahead, post the night, just have the decency to post pictures that I'm not in. Thanks.
These are only five reasons, and I am sure there are many more, but for all of you who love FB I have probably already lost your interest.
Even though I don't know a lot about actually engaging with people on FB, I can appreciate this funny summary of The 9 Most Annoying Types of People on Facebook. I'd like to add one, and that is the person who flip-flops every other month about their FB account. "I'm getting rid of it! I hate FB! I am not posting anymore pictures!" The following weekend s/he has such a blast and can't wait to show everyone how many beers they drank, so low and behold finds themselves in the welcoming arms of FB once again. These nine most annoying people can be found in real-life, why also encourage their bad behavior by letting them have FB accounts?
My intent is not to offend anyone. Have your FB accounts, just keep me out of them.
A couple of videos for your virtual enjoyment:
"I can Be Your Facebook Stalker"
"Facebook Song"
