Maybe I'm just too much of a hermit (or budding curmudgeon) for Facebook.

[Silent3]

A couple of weeks ago one of my sister's sent me a Facebook invitation. I responded, which meant that now I had a Facebook page of my own.

Soon after signing up, many e-mails started coming in from friends and family, mostly a lot of people I knew back in high school that I haven't heard from in nearly thirty years, some names I don't even recognize any more.

And now other sorts of invitations and requests are showing up. Farkle requests. Drinking requests. Tattoo requests. Cute Dog Gift requests. I have no idea what this shit is, and if I'd regret accepting any of it. Then again, I'm not sure if I click "ignore" to any of this stuff if I'll be making someone feel slighted. So the invitations just sit there.

The thing is, I don't feel much of any desire to maintain my own Facebook page, or to visit it very often, or check out anyone else's page. I don't really want to post updates about what's going on in my day-to-day life. I've never been exactly what one would call a "social butterfly", so maybe that's a big part of my "meh" reaction to all of this.

On the other hand, I've always been very technically oriented and skilled with computers. I make my living as a software engineer, which I've been doing since I was 19 years old, since even before I went to college. So it's weird for me to have this thing stuff -- social networking, "Web 2.0" (I even loathe the terminology "Web 2.0") -- which is supposed to be the current Big Thing in the world of computing leaving me feeling so uninspired and uninterested.

I like reading and posting on DU. That's certainly social in a way, but it's also about news stories and politics and religion, stuff I find fascinating. I'm not anywhere near as interested in finding out what the people I knew in high school are doing, or catching them up on my life. As for my family, the occasional phone call or visit does nicely without plastering those interactions online.

[latebloomer]

1. I know what you mean

I'm very new with FB, but I can see already how it takes on a life of its own, barraging you with all kinds of STUFF you have no interest in. And I only have about 15 "friends".

Nobody from high school has contacted me yet, but I already realized, through reunions and a graduating class website, that with one or two exceptions, the very few classmates I wanted in my life were already there.

I do like it for its ability to keep me in touch with certain friends who I don't contact all the time. But communication on it is very superficial.

[rrneck]

2. I hear you.

I signed up to see what it was all about and forgot to delete the account last winter. Now I've got a bunch of "friends", most of whom are from back home in the (Southern Baptist) south who would just be pissed off at me if I said half the shit I say in a place like this. I'm not into sparring with people or scoring points off them for the hell of it, but I don't enjoy meaningless chit chat.

I think it's a sign of the decline of western civilization. A zillion dollar website devoted to mundane personal trivia and cocktail party bullshit.

And now there's Twitter...

[latebloomer]

5. Oy, Twitter!

That's one club I viscerally refuse to join. The terms "tweeting" and "followers" are enough to induce nausea, but from what I know, it is even more superficial than Facebook. Don't they limit you to 24 characters per "tweet"? Deep, man.

[miss_american_pie]

18. I love the brevity of twitter

:hi:

[LaurenG]

3. I'm not good on facebook either. I don't understand most of the

"offers." I don't post about what I'm doing but I do enjoy reading about others. My page is pretty much a few friends, and friends of friends.

[JimWis]

4. I am on facebook and understand where you are coming from.

One thing I discovered. Whether you accept all those invitations or not, the party that sent them don't know the difference. So, just hit ignore. I do that all the time and haven't offended anyone yet. I use facebook to keep in touch with a few friends and mostly family. I post some personal thoughts or share what's going on sometimes. And enjoy commenting on others posts. But I don't spend any great deal of time there. Alot of it is just humor or maybe silliness, but it can be fun. I spend alot more time on DU.

[gmoney]

6. you can block a LOT of the "applications" bullshit

but post something on your profile "I'm here at the request of a friend. If you want to get in touch with me, use the message feature, or better yet, call me on the phone. Otherwise, your request/tag/comment/etc. will likely be ignored. Nothing against you, but I simply don't have time to keep up with this."

[Haole Girl]

7. Thank you for reinforcing what I suspected about FB

Not only would I dread certain people from my past looking me up, but I don't like the fact it is so time consuming. And if it makes me un-cool, because I refuse to sign up, oh well. Thanks for your input on the subject.

[rockymountaindem]

8. Just ignore all those dumb invites

That's what I do. They'll never know that you don't want to play their little online scrabble game or whatever. Nobody takes it seriously.

[marzipanni]

9. I've had a facebook page for about a month, but I've written very little on it.

I posted a funny video of my dog ... YouTube uploading stalled, so I tried facebook, but it doesn't run smoothly.
My name doesn't seem really common, but if I search it in Intellius (people search) there are 149 women in the U.S.who have the same name as I; 4 or 5 are the same age as those in my H.S. graduating class. If someone has a very common name it would be a task to find them on facebook!

I look at my brother's, my niece's, and a few friends' facebook stuff, but I would feel overwhelmed reading a whole bunch. At DU you can poke around and see a myriad of interesting subject lines to look into further.

[GOPisEvil]

10. I delete just about every request I get.

I pay attention to the announcements from musical groups or other people of whom I am a fan. I also pay attention to new friend requests. Other than that, I don't pay much attention to all that other stuff.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

11. If I want to talk to someone,

I call them.

If I feel like it, I get out my beautiful fountain pen and my handmade paper and I write a letter, a joyous exercise.



If I feel the need for speed, I'll email someone.

When my first book was published (using my real name), I couldn't believe what came out of the woodwork. And that was ten years ago.

Now, I use a nom de plume, and, like you, find the whole Facebook/Twitter things incomprehensible.

Except I think a lot of people are lonely and yearning to be noticed, or to have the illusion of "connecting" with another human being.

I prefer my connecting to be in person, and, barring that, I'd just as soon be left alone........................

[DarkTirade]

12. Yeah, I think at last count I had over a hundred 'requests' for things that I've just ignored.

I use it to keep up with friends easily. I've also been able to connect to a few people from high school. That's about it.

[datasuspect]

13. or you might have more than half a brain

facebook is for n00bs. it's the 21st century aol.

[Silent3]

16. I'm trying to be open-minded about what other people get out if it.

After all, I've heard a lot of older people talk the same way about e-mail and the web, which I find indispensable.

Then again, maybe it's not just that I'm a bit of an introvert, and it really is a lot of inane blather. :)

[Kali]

14. I don't really get it.

A DU friend invited me and I signed up. Couldn't find anybody I was remotely interested in finding and nobody has found me. I'd rather e-mail or DU.

Twitter seems inane - BUT did you see the latest breaking on the stuff in Iran - they were/are using it to communicate so I see some potential.

[Zavulon]

15. I refuse to use FB or Twitter.

I caved in to pressure to join MySpace, hated it, haven't done anything with it in months, and will not make that mistake again.

Facebook is particularly annoying. My girlfriend is on it and gets these stupid virtual gifts, virtual drinks, invitations to play some game called Mafia Wars, and now - this one put her over the edge - something called a "plushy microbes request." She's now of like mind with me on the whole Facebook thing and finds it more trouble than it's worth, especially since she is now being written to by people she was happy to forget. I'll never sign up for it.

Twitter just makes me laugh. I won't sign up, but she still likes Twitter because it shows her how illiterate and narrow-minded some celebrities are. There is apparently a page of celebrities in Twitter and she selected a few to follow. I don't pay any attention to this, but through comments I have picked up in the house I have learned that, for instance, Kirstie Alley is "foul-mouthed and a fucking retard."

:rofl:

[fight4my3sons]

17. all of my family lives out of state so it is easier to keep up to date with them

on FB than through email. We all have young children. Loading pictures and video on FB is much easier on FB than sending video and multiple pictures through email where different individual's email accounts sometimes bounce your pics back. They want to see every little thing my little guys do (my friend may not, but they can block my threads on their home pages if they choose to) It is just a lot easier to have everyone in one place. Also I have reconnected with some old friends that I would not have otherwise.