Even though it has been a month since my last post, it's nice to know that some things remain constant. There are still examples of foolish political decisions, sports stars are still doing foolish things and we are still destroying the environment at an astonishing rate. Surprisingly, the last month has also brought the largest changes in the world of my computer/online life as well. I took the plunge and deleted my account with facebook. I know. Wow! And yet, the sun is still rising in the east and the tide is still rising and falling as usual.
It's hard to imagine how ubiquitous this social networking site has become until you leave it. People quickly get into the habit of going online every day (sometimes for hours on end) and checking up on what their friends are doing, stalking old girlfriends and boyfriends and lurking on people's home pages. This site has taken over social events, business functions and personal news to such an extent that when you no longer take part it's like you've left a cult. Because 'everyone' is on facebook, people no longer tell you about what is going on because they think you are still there.
When I left I took the step of announcing it in my status a couple of weeks before I hit the delete button. It was there in type, proudly proclaiming my intention to leave at the end of the month. I got much grief over this from co-workers. My reasoning was that there were people, 'friends', who I was not in contact everyday or even every week, who might like to stay in contact with me when I was gone from the site. This would give people a chance to get my e-mail address and blog info before it was gone. Pretty considerate, I thought. It was then that I began to realize that people don't read status updates.
Just the other day, almost a month from the date that I left facebook, someone who was a 'friend' stopped me in the street and asked me why I didn't show up on their friends list anymore. After I explained why I was no longer there I got an ear full about how inconsiderate I was not to be on facebook and how I should go back on. Because I was having a not so great day I decided to turn the conversation around and asked why they didn't know I was going to quit when I had announced it for everyone weeks in advance. Turns out that this 'friend' had blocked me from their news feed, because they only wanted to follow a few people's news. As I pressed further, it turned out hat this person was not really interested in who their friends were only in how many friends they had online. I thanked them for making my point and continued on my grumpy way.
In the month since my departure things have gone back to the way they were B.f. (Before facebook). I see co-workers when I work, talk to relatives intermittently, and I attend the events and activities I want to attend. All of this with no requests for boards for barns in 'farmville' or requests to join the fight for some-cause-that-I-should-care-about-but-really-don't-group. I must say that I don't miss the site at all. My life has gone on much as it did before and that really says it all doesn't it?
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