The dilema
I remember seeing that Simpson’s episode, where Lisa gave up hope of being vegetarian, only to find out that the hot dog she just ate had no meat at all. In fact it had thrice the fat of a regular meat dog, but this is another story. Likewise, I have never been one to go with the ultra popular option, although the Internet world is hell bent on me changing my mind.
I’ve never signed up to MySpace of Facebook, and I had my reasons, however most of them were based on factional demographics of the typical user of these sites at that time. Although this strange concept was observed by an Immortal, and moreso agreed without question by myself (as I hate doing unnecessary research), I have never taken the plunge of joining up to either social network, even though the social aspect appears to be better grounded in Facebook.
I hear rumors all the time about what is happening on Facebook, but as a non-user they remain that way. I have received so many invites to Facebook, but they have all been declined to date, and all based on my steadfast refusal to join. On reflection, I think my initial reasons were somewhat obscured, however I believe if I joined now, I would be sucked into a vortex, and my time would disappear forever. Facebook addiction is a common illness in cyberspace, and pretty soon there will be Facebook anonymous support group — and chances are it will be hosted on Facebook too - just to have that added irony. But if you look at the alternatives, they’re simply not there.
In my observation, MySpace users seem to love themself way too much, and it is obvious it is marketed towards a younger audience, or an audience that simply wants to brag or show off. To them, I salute you, but I won’t waste my time reading any more dribble unless I am directed to a must see link.
My dilema is this. Do I hold on to my precious time, and continue to be a minority Internet user that isn’t a member of a main stream social network? Or do I take the plunge, become mainstream, and catch up with a million people from the past, most of whom I will rarely see again?
Time Vs Social Junkie. Maybe one day I will sign up just to see what the rave is about, but that won’t be today. My reasons may have changed now but I know if I join up, I’d be in front of my computer screen more than I would like to be. So today, I am still in the minority, but tomorrow may change all of that.
November 26th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
One reason: I’m facebook friends with Evan Dando, and he chats to me. That would never have happened without facebook. Gold.
(you’re totally right about the time wasting, though!)
November 28th, 2008 at 7:51 am
It would seem that most people who work in IT spend plenty of time in front of a computer screen without a facebook addiction, so choose not to sign up.
Having said that, once you get over the first few weeks of tons of people adding you as ‘friends’, and the resultant feeling of popularity (however fake it may be), it is quite possible to not waste heaps of time on it. I probably jump on for about half an hour twice a week, just to see if anyone has some interesting news or pictures put up. It can actually be quite helpful sometimes, as it has at times given me some information via a status update that has come in handy at social gatherings. As with anything, it could blow out into an addiction, but if you have appropriate boundaries then I think it can be a useful tool.
December 29th, 2008 at 9:16 am
it would be cool to be able to keep in touch with you on fb- as far as wasting time, i don’t bother with much of the games or trivial things that go back and forth- unless you’re bored.
you’d have, like a million friends, so it might be more taxing for u.