In the last few days, I've heard too many rants against Facebook-on how it is completely stupid and how people are wasting time updating status messages and playing dumb games etc.
Truth be told, I'm a regular and frequent Facebook user- the kind who update their status prob once a day and are thankful to FB for reminding them of friends' birthdays, the kind who don't take stupid quizzes and who ignore all application requests, the kind who like the fact that FB has brought distant friends back in touch and their life's experiences closer through photographs.
The following is dedicated to the Facebook haters and their myriad reasons.
If you dislike the concept of social networking and people spending time as per their choice, well, you might be better off taking up another cause instead of getting millions of people to change their minds.
If you can't stand others updating their status message, please get a little savvy and open your eyes to a feature called "Hide"- hide that user or your entire friend list. If you don't really want to know what a friend is upto or are irritated by all the fun he/she is having- well, maybe that person does not really belong in your friend account. Also, if you continue to read the status updates and yet keep complaining, you are either hypocritical or just plain lazy.
If you are concerned about lack of privacy, please use the security settings and allow access to your profile, info and pics only to individuals you trust enough or don't put them up in the first place.
If someone is stalking you, block them and report abuse.
If you don't like the idea of the whole world reading your message to a friend, don't leave a wall post-send them a private message instead.
If you think your kids are going crazy over FB, well, monitor, screen, filter- in the same way that you do for other internet sites, mobile phones etc. A good measure of judgment, advice and trust should work, right? And in any case, no matter what you do, the next generation will find ways of beating your system. Getting yourself familiar with new means of communication will only help you assess benefits or damage better.
If you think FB is making mails and calls obsolete, you might find your thoughts resonating with those who said the TV would make print obsolete- different methods of communication can co-exist, especially if they serve different purposes!
If you can't bear FB, close the account and bid adieu- there are millions of users and one less is not going to hurt anyone. Least of all, you. If you are on the site, you are choosing to click-unless, someone is holding a gun to your head and insist that you get socially connected. If they are, you should consider getting help.
Facebook is not perfect- there are way too many weirdos sending you friendship requests. Traditionally strong lines between work and fun, business and pleasure, family and friends are getting blurred. Tweens and teens are getting seriously affected by the site which make them measure self worth in terms of their friends lists and number of wall posts. People are getting obsessed with doing things just so they can report on them through their status updates. And yes, it's surprisingly easy to take the cleverly constructed mirage of a good life for reality.
But then guess how real life is turning out? Our communities, our groups and our social networking sites are only a reflection of how society is evolving. You can either sit in the corner and sulk because no one told you the world is changing or you could be out there, recognizing teh change and and trying to adapting to it. The choice between denial and participation will always be yours.
In short, if you don't like facebook or the other social networking sites- stop whining, stay away and let others FB in peace. While on your way out, please collect the winner's goody bag-it contains a typewriter, a gramophone and a VCR. The committe had recommended a laptop, an Ipod and a blu ray player, but then we thought obsolete might suit you better.
ps- If you hate Orkut, I don't blame you. The site sucks :P The ratio of losers: decent junta on that site crossed the permissible limit roughly 1.5 years back.
8 comments:
M is definitely out of town, for this post to happen. ;)
I completely get your point, esp since FB has so many great privacy and filter options.
See I love FB, I only wish that I could separate my irl from my blogging friends since my irl friends dont really know I blog..:)
I have quite a few filters set up.Only friends, some like my 50 yr old chacha I blocked from my wall :)
But then who cares right. NK thinks I have become a narcissist posting my self potraits from fittion room mirrors.I just ignore him like I always do.
Now twitter, I am so not into that
Love and loyalty for FB out in the open .. hehe :) It's interesting to watch how life and behaviour get easily reflected in such sites. Am curious to know who annoyed you enough to write about this here! ;-)
Anu, exactly the question that popped into my head!! And second, I don't wanna be in his/her shoes..(ever!)
But QQ, agree with you. Either you do it or you don't. You can't possibly do it willingly and still crib about it.
I, for one, like Facebook. It's an easy way to stay in touch with people. As for weirdos, their existence in the virtual world is as true as in the real one. Deal with them the way you would in the real world. And stop cribbing!
PG (feels strange calling you that instead of GM)- M's very much in town.If something gnaws at my mind, I write a post! Think it's coz M's not gnawing at mind :P
Asaaan- your chacha is on FB?- too much!Actually even im having a tough time adapting to twitter..dunno why.
Anu- well it wasn't just one person, it was a series of rants I heard from different people.
Neha- Great minds think alike :)
I totally agree with you dear. So, seems like some people did touch you on your wrong nerve. So, a well written post for all of them and hopefully some of them will read your post. After all it needs to serve the purpose :-)
Well I probably wouldn't want to see myself on all the social networking sites existing out there, but one or two make sense and definitely anyday I would prefer FB over orkut or any other site for that matter.
5 minutes a day is ok on FB. Any more than that is a sheer waste of time. Unless of course the extra time is spend on any of the following: Rock climbing, blue whales, mountaineering, scrabble, badminton, rubiks cube, acoustic guitar, crossword, running, card magic, poker strategy, baby animals, DSLR photography, sky diving, adventure trekking, swimming. Thats 30 years of wisdom packed in 30 seconds of reading. Man am i saving you guys time !!!!
Mahesh.
I feel like being a part of FB is non-optional for me at this point. For me it started as a LinkedIn of sorts before I discoverd LinkedIn. Then all the people I knew in HS started requesting to add me as a friend (what am I supposed to do say no? lol) and now it has turned into an empty experience befuddled by the sheer volume of their own features.
The last straw for me was when they changed the interface twice in less than 6 months for absolutely no reason. Having to learn over-and-over again where to find basic features is a pain in the ass. Pointelss to as the only thing that changes is the design aspects which is a purely subjective thing in regards to if ppl like it or not.
So I don't feel like I can just cancel my account because it connects me with so many colleagues but I just never go on anymore. I add people from HS and they never send me anything and I don't write to them because we simply don't know each other anymore.
Maybe once a week I'll log in just to check my mail for like 2 mins. I just think I am over the whole social networking sites after using a bunch of them for over 5 years. They can really be an unproductive use of time depending on how you use them.
There is just only so much time that we all have to live and I don't want my life to be centered (even partially) around staring at a computer screen unless I am creating something that will be productive in some way.
Reconnecting with HS "friends" can be cool but in the long run you shouldn't need FB to stay in touch or reconnect with people you used to know. If you cared as much as you pretend to then you would have never lost touch in the first place.
Quit being lazy and letting computer apps enable your life! Figure out a way to do the same things w/o all the tech. It will make you a more dynamic person who people want to hang around ... in the real world.
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