Saturday, January 15, 2011

The Man with No Facebook

I am in the midst of a social networking experiment. Well, to be precise, a social non-networking experiment. A couple of days ago I deactivated my account and my Facebook has been moved to the remainder bin.

It's not because I am one of those people who thinks there are all sorts of nasty things wrong with Facebook. Nope, my problem with Facebook had more to do with me than with Facebook.

I was starting every morning checking on where Todd and his new girlfriend went for the weekend, what jokes Wally had to tell, where Naomi had drinks last night, how much snow was at Stratton when Frank went to snowboard, whether Jordan was stressed about an exam, what animals Lora was trying to save, what beer Jeff drank at the tailgate party and how many newborn calves Sandy had found in Farmville.

And then there were the things that just kept reminding me that I am nowhere near as hip as I wish I were. Things like Jason writing, "Slayer!!!!" and nothing more. And while I was worrying that my kid was turning mental, a lots of his friends started ticking the "Like" button when they read it.

In the morning Facebook was the first thing I had to read. I checked back in during the afternoon and always took a quick peek at night.

You only have to look at me to know that I am not a moderate person, but even for a retired addictive personality like me with all the time in the world to do whatever I want, all the hours I was spending on Facebook seemed to be getting excessive.

I should add that I almost never write anything on Facebook. I am like Chance the Gardener - I just like to look at what my friends have done.

In fact, many of my friends are the same. My mother tells me she just likes it for the pictures. Peg tends to get active only when it's time to wish someone a happy birthday or congratulate them. LK reads it religiously but she picks up the phone and calls when she reads something from Sandy that she wants to know more about.

And of course not all my friends in Facebook are really my friends in life. What in the world possessed me to make someone a friend with whom I have never had a drink or even a personal chat? And worse. why do I feel awkward removing someone from my list of friends when I realize that I really, really, really am not interested in the minutiae of their lives?

So I de-activated my account. And each morning since then I have had to fight the urge to re-activate it. Part of it is breaking a habit, I suppose. But I do think there may be just a little bit of me that really does want to know how Todd and his new girlfriend are getting along.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Fortunately, you are missing some really sick jokes at the moment!