Complaint: Facebook = Fakebook

For a brief moment, I thought of going back to Facebook. But like an unhealthy relationship, I knew it would be a doomed affair. I’d end up getting sucked back into watching what other people are doing while I, doing absolutely nothing, yearned for a life I could actually have if I just stopped hanging around on fucking Facebook.

There was an article in The Week (last week) about Facebook, where various GenXers and even Boomers are saying it’s ideal for this age group, due to the fact that we/they have so many people from the past with whom to reconnect and “show off”. The argument against Facebook for teens is that when you’re young, you’re constantly reinventing yourself; how, they ask, do you do that when hundreds of your friends and acquaintances are watching 24/7? I personally have reinvented myself several times in the course of my life so far, and I could NOT have done it if I had been on Facebook. It’s just not a forgiving medium. And it’s forever. (One writer likened it to a high school reunion that never ended. Eek.)

Anyway, I went to sign in to my deactivated account just because I’m weak, and I practically had an anxiety attack, because it immediately welcomed me back, like a lover who will take you in and take advantage of you once you drop your inhibitions. I started panicking, and just immediately deactivated again.

And as you deactivate, for those of you not aware, Facebook does this pernicious little thing where it randomly shows four of your “friends” and says, “So and so will miss you!” “Such and Such will miss you!” “Are you SURE you want to go?”

Deactivate! Pull the trigger! Press the button! Eject! My real friends talk to me with their actual voices. Or email me with their news in more than one pithy sentence. They know how to find me if they want to. These people who will supposedly miss me? Won’t.

Besides, I’ve heard the new layout sucks and the status updates are endless and all psych-speaky.

Looks like I got out just in time.