Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Quit Facebook Day

Our son told me that yesterday Leo Laporte said Facebook is evil.  I can't believe it!  He's the tech guy on the radio we like to listen to.  But the thing is, it's so me that he said it's evil!  I asked our son, did he use that very word?  Evil?  Because when I think something is evil I say it's evil.  Freaks people out though.  Yes, he did say it, said my boy.


Only a couple weeks ago our son opted to close down his Facebook page and quit Facebooking altogether.  He's ahead of the curve I think.  I made him use a fake name which some of our friends made fun about.  And I now see, I'm not the only one who felt this way.  I'm not alone!

I asked him, "Why did you quit?" and he said every time he turned on his computer he went to Facebook first.  He said he thought it was a waste of his time and he didn't want to do it anymore.  

When he wanted to try Facebooking I didn't say no because that would only make it more enticing.  So he started up a page and got a few friends.  But I told him straight up from the git-go.  I said if you wanna see Grama, don't you dare go look at her Facebook page and stare at the computer screen, post a sentence or two and tell her to look at your pictures.  My arms were all flailing about and I said, "You pick up the phone and you call your Grama.  You can talk about what you've done lately and ask her how she is.  It will make her happy and she'll tell everyone you called her, and you will feel good that you did it."

I'm so proud of him and his decision-making.  I never once encouraged him to close it down, but he did hear me yammering about deactivating mine and it must have made him think.  He's been calling and texting his ex-Facebookers and I find it's much more personal than Facebook.  The calls have had a positive effect on the relationships - which is important because he's 13 and he's developing his character.  I like that.

Facebook draws in high click rates because once a visitor logs in they go to more and more pages to see pictures of . . . . other people.  It's like monkeys in a mirror.  See me, me, me, see you, you, you, ooooh ooooh, eeee eeee, ah ah ah.  I know I can say that because I was doing it too for awhile.

But the real reason why I dislike Facebook is because the material I post; my photos, my wrrrds, instantly belong to Facebook.  I do not like that.  Moreover, Facebook blatantly uses its Facebookers.  They've even given out to the advertiser the names or info of Facebookers who clicked on the advertisement.   One must be vigilant to the extreme to constantly ensure you block what you don't want to see, and opt out of this, that, and the other.  But your personal data belongs to them.  It's agreed to it in the Terms of Service.

It's an addictive time waster.  And those 1000 Friends are not friends. 

I've heard there's a way to actually delete my Facebook page instead of just deactivate it.  That too, I found curious.  Any place else, I hit delete and I'm deleted.  I can go through channels to get the data back possibly, but generally delete means it's gone.  At Facebook, delete means deactivate.  Everything is still there.

I have a friend who could care less if Facebook is profiting off of him.  I say then go out and buy some shoes and hats and shirts and pants with brand names stamped on them so you can be a walking advertisement 24/7.

I'm not saying it's all debris.  Some of it could be blessing.  Let's say 5%.   It ain't much.

I have a plain picture of my hair from this morning.  I figure one is due because my current pic is six months old.

Don't look at the white legs.

Analysis:  I'm letting the ends go without taking off a couple inches so I can make more progress.  The ends are not that bad.  They're so-so/okay.  That's my new skirt from Target in San Diego.  My new favorite skirt.  Meh.  What can I add about the hair.  It's hair.



I have to work in the front office Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  Memorial Day week-end is coming up, one of the busiest times in the park.  AAAAUUUUGGGHHHH!  I don't know if I will be any good in the front office.  I'm really worried I can't answer all the questions.  AAAUUUUGGGHHH!

10 comments:

SchnauzerMom said...

I pretty much agree with you about Facebook. I dropped out of it once but got back on again. Your hair looks gorgeous!

Jules said...

I love the pic of the hair! And the legs looked pretty good to me too.

If you find out how to delete your FB account please let me know. I don't like that I can only deactivate and not opt out permanently.

Jules said...

Um, don't worry. I found how to delete my FB account here: http://www.groovypost.com/howto/security/permanently-delete-your-facebook-profile-account/

Liliana said...

Excellent. I heard there was a way to do it. I'm going to delete it May 31.

Liliana said...

Thanks ladies! :)

Unknown said...

That is so funny that you would post this! I just closed my FB account yesterday! I read an article just out on Yahoo that said the owner of FB was in hot water because he sold peoples personal info to Google and a bunch of other websites. I was getting tired of all the competition anyways, so I wanted to close it. It reminds me of a high school popularity contest. Kinda like "Lets see who can get the most friends!" But how many of those friends are actually friends?? I mean, come on, who really has 1500 friends and knows them all personally and knows their business??? And then there is the issue of everyone's lives looking perfect, and that they are perfect parents with perfect children doing perfect activities. I didn't need to keep reading about that. It was making me feel very un-perfect. Okay, I'm ranting. I will have to check out the link to permanently close my account.

And your hair is looking LOVELY! And you are too :).

Leia said...

I don't know... I think it's a good idea to quit facebook but I'm far too entrenched to stop now...!

Liliana said...

Jen, what a coincidence!

Leia. Hey, hi! I don't think Quit Facebook will even make a dent. Zuckerman has made mistakes, but maybe he'll fix them too. We'll see. He seems responsive. If you ever change your mind, I will throw you a life preserver and get a tug boat and pull you outta there fast! ;)

Shelby said...

Looking good Lil!

Anonymous said...

Wow, I didn't know that about all of my pictures and everything else becoming facebook's property as soon as I post them. Scary! Thanks for the heads-up!!!