I Quit Facebook
I just deactivated my Facebook account. Why? Because the phony intimacy of the whole thing just creeps me out. All these people want to be my “friend.” Plus, once you’re someone’s “friend,” every little stupid thing that the “friend” writes, posts, or photographs and posts is inexorably tied to your page.
So, I quit.
There are cons to the whole facebook experience, to be sure. That having been said, my view is that the ability to be able to reconnect with so many of my old high school and college friends is worth the occasional annoyances that go along with FB.
Also, the truth is that you are the master of “quality control” on FB. If some of your “friends” are bothering you, there is a very simple remedy–defriend them.
One other thing to consider: You can always use an alias, and limit yourself to only those folks you really want to keep in touch with. I know a few people who have done this.
Facebook is like lots of other parts of our tech world. It has its positives and negatives. I’ll keep an eye on whether I’m getting more benefit than cost from it. So far it has been a positive for me.
I cannot believe you ever did it in the first place. Welcome back to reality (well kind of since this is the blogosphere).
Joe:
I did a couple of years ago when a group of students at Baylor created a facebook site called “Tenure Beckwith.” For the only way I could view it was to join FB. Then I started getting “friend” requests, including ones from colleagues. But it started to get weird when I would get friend requests from students, go to their sites, and see things I shouldn’t see.
I think FB (that’s “facebook” not “Frank Beckwith”) breeds an unhealthy familiarity between professors and students. I don’t think it’s right for faculty to interact with students as if they were peers. With grad students, it’s a bit different. But when 18-year-old co-eds start “poking” their 52-year-old male English prof, for example, it’s just unseemly, especially if he pokes back.
Several priests I know have shut down their Facebook pages over similar concerns.
I find I go through periods of paying attention to it for a couple of days…and then ignoring it for months at at time.
If you like the old Andy Griffith shows, you’re too old for Facebook.
Nip it in the bud.
Oh, don’t be an old fart.
I have not yet given into the facebook phenomenon, and I have no intention of giving into it. I understand the desire to stay in touch with old friends – but really, I can keep in touch with the people that I want to keep in touch with just fine otherwise.
Besides, my friends can just hassle my wife on her facebook page.
Hunter:
Old farts tend to linger.
F.B.–I agree, there should be a line between professors and students. I also miss kids calling parents Mr. and Mrs. I try to instill that with my kids, yet many parents say “call me by my first name…” As if that will take off the years.
Andy, Barney, Goober and the boys would never say the word f**t. Shame on you. Aunt Bee would not be happy.
I thought Face Book was geared to the younger set. Let me know when they start Old Complaining Bastard Book.
[...] account afterall my lovely wife still has hers up. I’m with F. Beckwith on this one…“the phony intimacy of the whole thing just creeps me out.” I mean seriously…I’m (Facebook) friends with Al Mohler and Mark [...]
The obvious problem with the argument that you “control” who you friend or de-friend is that it ignores the uncomfortable facts of actual social interaction–like inexplicit pressure, manners, these kinds of things. It’s technically true that I can control who I shake hands with, but that doesn’t mean that if I openly refuse (or openly repent of the gesture) that there are no consequences.
Once you friend a casual acquaintance because a refusal to do so would come across as rude, it’s even harder to strike them from your friends list. This is why I never got started on FB and never will.