Honestly, I can’t find any reason why I should use Facebook. Fairly enough, I don’t use it that much, but when I do, I’m confronted with the usual boring content from those few “friends” who post frequently. On the other side, I can think about anything interesting that I could add myself to the never ending stream of empty conversations. Status Updates, Wall writing, yes I tried, not that hard, but hard enough to find out that I cant be bothered by it. I have noting to say that’s of any value to the virtual world. I do have something to say in a nice conversation, sitting on a table, lying in the grass, running trough the park or over a nice meal. This is where I live and share.
But Facebook, no I don’t want to be part of a society where we spit out a status message for everything we do and call this “social”. I cant see any value in knowing who did the dishes tonight and who did not. Why ? Who gives a fuck ? It isn’t that I’m not interested in what my real friends are up to, I guess I just prefer interacting with them in the old-fashion way. I rather go outside and talk to real people, in a shop, a bar or even the short talk in a taxi on my way home. All that gives me more quality then an whole day Facebook browsing session. Hey call me old fashion, I don’t care. Facebook and I, we don’t connect, it does not give extra value for the time spending there. Its cold, empty and far from my definition of social networking.
Then one other thing: Can I trust Facebook ? Sure I know about tweaking the > 50 Facebook privacy settings, and that its everybody’s own responsibility to guard what they share online. But when it comes to the matter of privacy, Facebook’s idea’s and mine we are not aligned. This is a company that makes money with my privacy and lies about it. I don’t need that extra complexity in my live. It is not that I have that much to hide, and am pretty open in what I do, think and like, but I can’t see any reason why a company should make money, by secretly selling this information to company’s I don’t know. I don’t want to support that.
That’s about is, my rant is over. I will close and try to remove my Facebook account next week; nobody’s going to mis my social blurb anyway. But if you do, write an email (hanz(at)geeratz.cc), use the phone or just drop by for a talk. I promise that I wont sell any information we share.
As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.” – Henry David Thoreau