Archive for December, 2009
Facebook account deactivation
I’ve decided to deactivate my Facebook account as a bit of an experiment, to see if I find myself genuinely disadvantaged. I really dislike what Facebook has very recently become, and more generally, what is has been encouraging for years. One might say that the most basic method of online communication is e-mail. E-mail is great: it can be cheaply provisioned for people, it’s neutral and simple and accessible, and universal. I tend to find that people who write e-mails for purely social purposes treat the process like writing a snail mail letter, which means that they put time into it, and send a worthwhile and thoughtful message. They sent the e-mail not because there was an opportunity presented to them that they accepted for the sake of it, but because they actually wanted to communicate. This is a much more positive way of having relationships with people.
This brings me on to my more recent issue with Facebook. While the News Feed has done an excellent job of telling you about things people are procrastinating with, it was never quite so intrusive as the expanded suggestions area, which now has a tendency to say things like “x and you haven’t talked on Facebook for a while”. So? Friendships can end due to changes of life circumstances. More importantly, why does Facebook wish to define my friendships; is it not up to the friends and I to do that through our actual communication in real life, and over more thoughtful mediums?
The last straw was when I pondered deactivating my account and, on clicking the deactivate button, was shown five photos (several identical) which had me and a friend in, with a caption saying that “x will miss you” and an opportunity to send them a message. So now Facebook is also trying to claim that people will miss me based on whether I use their site. I don’t think anyone could want a friendship that is so poorly grounded that people miss each other because they’re not mutually making use of a website; I certainly don’t. So I shall see how I do with e-mail. I’ll get less contact from people, but when I do get it, it’ll be actual social contact as opposed to lazy dashed off wall posts.
Facebook is controlling many of our social lives (not that I have much of one of course). It’s becoming, slowly but steadily without us realising, something that defines friendships and is essential for their existence. It does not have to be this way and I do not want it to be.
EDIT: Oh ho ho look what gets posted mere days later! http://xkcd.com/672/