About Face(book)
blogThis weekend we went down to England, ostensibly for my Gran’s 90th Birthday, but also to visit friends. On Friday we went to Cambridgeshire to see my old pal C, his wife L, and their new daughter E.
I respect C a lot, mainly for his quiet, incisive wit and his ability to focus. He is someone who never speaks unnecessarily and who disdains inane chatter. So it was no real surprise to hear that he had deleted his Facebook account, a social network consists of little more than unnecessary and inane chatter. It is an act that I have often contemplated but never managed to undertake, so I thought it would be worth looking at the reasons for and against it.
Facebook is unbelievably successful. Nothing else has managed to appeal across generations, across classes, across genders, and across cliques. Its ubiquity has made it incredibly valuable as a contacts tool, as an events management tool, and as a quick way to keep up-to-date with what your friends and acquaintances are doing. By deleting it, you are not only cutting yourself off from everyone you have ever known but also from everyone in your immediate social circle.
Nevertheless, there is still some residual resentment towards it. Facebook stirs up memory and desire, it encroaches upon the quiet moments of life with its incessant whispering, taunting you with the idea of missing out on something. I find that, whilst you are alerted to lots of interesting events, it tends to produce superficial, partially-engaged acquaintanceships rather than focused and committed friendships. The more I think about it, the more I take note of the negative effects it has on me, the less I want it.
And yet, I refuse to delete it. To delete Facebook would be to admit to myself that I am incapable of controlling my own actions and limit myself to the things that are important.
5 Reasons to Keep Facebook
1. Design. It’s fascinating to view the progression of Facebook’s design. It is one of the best designed UIs on the web in terms of its reach and its hooks.
2. Events. It is a brilliant events management tool (there are few other applications which have so many people in them).
3. Promotion. If you’re just starting out, and you’re doing good stuff, you can build a community on Facebook relatively quickly.
4. Ubiquity. Almost everyone uses it, which makes it appealing, making it super easy to keep in touch with people.
5. Privacy. It has, despite recent reports, good privacy filters, meaning that you can see pictures of your nephews even if your sister is very protective.
5 Reasons to Delete Facebook
1. Lack of nutritional content. In an age of unlimited information, people are beginning to diet the unhealthy stuff. Some of this can be ignored via filters but it is skill pretty bad.
2. Principle. The danger of ubiquity is that it is used for malign purposes. Surely it is better to promote an open standard on principle.
3. Addiction. There is so much on Facebook that it is easy to get lost in the whirl and lose hours playing it.
4. Distraction. If you have things to do then playing Facebook is a distraction. It is worth noting that most people who actually do things aren’t on Facebook.
5. Contrarianism. No one wants to just go along with the herd, it is sometimes better to avoid them and do your own thing.
So, can see that I am still undecided about what to do.
When I joined Facebook I was excited, now I am jaded and want to stop being sucked into the sickly, emotional, social realm of the 21st Century. Even if it means being unhappy. Even if it means being even less popular. Even if it means missing out on exciting things. Forbidden fruit tastes much sweeter, but then again the ignored fruit soon rots, shrinks, and disappears.