I am interrupting the "e-petitions at the top of the blog" run to blog about this one-day internet event/phenomenon. Today is Quit Facebook Day, which is exactly what it sounds like: quit Facebook today! The official website is here:
http://www.quitfacebookday.com
There are several good reasons to quit (or, in my case, to never have started in the first place). My list boils down to these few points:
1. Privacy
2. Productivity
3. Content Ownership
4. Meaningful Friendships
The first has already been addressed on this blog (and is covered on the website), and the second is self-evident. The third is a serious, often overlooked concern: anything you post on Facebook becomes the property of Facebook (as opposed to on other sites, where all content remains the property of the author). That's the equivalent of giving up first publication rights to anything you post, ever. You never know when you might need it.
The fourth is a personal philosophy: I would rather have a few fast friends than many superficial friends. Facebook appears to encourage rampant and unsustainable befriending of casual acquaintances, and the setting of perverse numerical goals, neither of which are conducive to meaningful relationships. I'm the type of person who enjoys long conversations and equally long letters (or, nowadays, e-mails). With most of my friends, I can be away from them, without much contact, for months, and pick up right where we left off. One-line status updates just don't appeal to me.
2 comments:
Was this aimed at me? :( Facebook is a good way to keep track of what my friends are doing everyday, especially when I don't see them very often!
It's addressed to pretty much everyone I know who uses Facebook. I don't think status updates, however frequent, are comparable to long conversations once every few months (even phone conversations).
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