Initially I wasn't going to have an actual topic for my first "blog," if that's indeed what an entry is called, and not the collective sum of all entries. Most recently I've been trying to be rid of facebook, and the majority of social media. Why would I do that, you ask? Why would I give up getting in touch with everyone I went to (high school/middle school/elementary school) with?
-- Honestly, I could care less --
At first it seemed like a great; I would send messages back and forth to Joe Somebody from 9 or so years ago, and start a small conversation via wall-posting or private messages. Within 3 days, we're all caught up, and I've nothing left to say from time to time, because we have nothing in common anymore. It got to the point where people were just numbers. In most peoples' lives, you don't have the time to stay in contact with 255 people regularly -- I find it hard enough to keep in touch with 10 people on a more regular basis. Does anyone actually think they can keep track of 600 people? 800 people? 2000 people? I've seen ridiculous counts. In my later facebook daze [sic], I worked opposite to this supposed goal of most. I found myself getting frustrated of all the people I, as I mentioned earlier, would talk to several times, and then would remain idle for years to come. I went from near 300 friends, to around 80, then deactivated my account.
Okay, so technically I'm not "off" facebook yet, but I'm in the process of backing up everything, e-mails, pictures, and such. Once that's done, I'm done with this kind of social media, except for my most recent "acquisition" of Twitter. But that's not used in the same way -- I don't care to tell someone what I'm doing; no, "Feeling great! Delicious breakfast, going down to the mall today to be a tool," or the like. It's purely a knowledge base, for feeds from my favourite sources, and consistent information for anything else I find useful. It was originally just for the 41st Canadian Federal Election (yes, I'll get into my opinion on Harper soon enough, but I don't have enough time for that tonight). That's neither here nor there, though. I find that people also hold back when it comes to non-anonymous social media; they lack creativity they would gain when online with people who don't know who they are. Perhaps that's just me, but I hold back a lot less when conversations have no impact on my real life.
Two extensions. What, you ask? That's how many I need to use to prevent facebook from delivering all the things I don't want, and taking with it, some of my input without asking. I don't believe that anything I use so regularly should take so much from me, so that one wannabe hacker can profit in the billions, thinking he's a real company. Now, between that, his lack of belief in privacy, and lack of anonymity, it is by far the most ridiculous solution.
Now, I don't have any citations here, and it contains a good amount of opinion and some speculation, so take it for what it is -- a blog! So, let me know your view on facebook and social media, and I'll be back to post when I can think of something else to waste my time ranting about.
Vitriohl
