I don’t think that the world appreciates the existential loneliness, the profound sense of abandonment, endured by those of us who don’t have Facebook accounts. So let me give you a feeling for the blighted landscape through which we outcasts wander:
There are, as well, certain existential consolations:
Those that are NOT on Facebook are SO much richer for it…
And all this time I thought I was only missing parental bragging, vacation envy, and cute kitten videos by not using Facebook.
I am probably one of the few who seeks to use Facebook for deeper conversations, and sometimes succeeds. I do feel it is a fight against the medium’s design however. For example, the default size of the comment boxes encourages snippets. From time to time I’ll copy a passage from an interesting book I’m reading to a Facebook status update and just by means of the change in context it will appear to be a wholly unreadable “wall of text.”
My friend and I hope to make a deeper contribution to the web in the form of audio dialogues. I suspect that will work better than trying to do so on Facebook, or worse yet, Twitter.
I’m with you brother, having taken the Red Pill (or was it the Blue Pill?)
That said, with these days’ NSA controversy finally coming out, I thought, what if a process got rolling whereby the internet started to unravel and fall apart, and we ended up going back to a world without it. This is a miracle I have never even dared to pray for.
Good stuff, Nick!!
To Duff:
I also tried for awhile to have meaningful interactions on Facebook, with occasional success. What I found to often kill attempts to discuss anything seriously were the silly comments from someone who wanted to be in touch with me more often, but didn’t want to engage in the topic I brought up. I guess one could add provisos to posts, like “please only respond if interested in this topic”, but then it feels like you are having to find a work-around, fighting against the goals of the medium.
Anyway- best of luck to you!
re. Twitter- I think the bar is not as high as for Facebook, since one’s profile isn’t given as richly, so short snippets that are occasionally meaningful feels more appropriate, and so I don’t mind using it as much I did Facebook (which I eventually left).
God unfriended me.
One week after deactivating facebook, I don’t miss it. And I was a frequent user. Or is it “use-ee” ? God, love, truth, hope, and peace were waiting for me out here all along.
After completely deleting my account I haven’t used Facebook in over two years and my life has been the better for it. My struggle now is to spend less time on Twitter. I occasionally delete the app from my phone. Of course, here I am on my laptop checking in on WordPress subscriptions in the Reader.
I find I spend much more time doing meaningful things when not on my phone or laptop using Twitter. I’ve gotten more reading and writing in the last couple of days after deleting my Twitter app and am happier for it. I’ll probably reload the app at some point when I get curious and need a ‘fix’.
Owl, from Winnie-the-Pooh, reminded me recently, as I watched the video with my young son, that a paragraph is “a collection of sentences that form a complete thought.” That is what Facebook doesn’t have: paragraphs – and complete thoughts.