It’s time to quit Facebook, I think.
My reason for quitting doesn’t seem entirely rational to me: I’m going to quit because I don’t want to friend all my under-15 nephews and nieces there. All of a sudden they seem to have discovered Facebook, and they’re all signing up. Every other day someone sends me a request to be their friend. It didn’t feel so bad when the 14-year-old did it. I mean, I can have a conversation with her. But now the 12-year-olds and under are signing up. (I think Facebook is meant to be for people aged 12 and over. But it’s easy to get around this if you really want to, you know?)
It’s starting to feel like their presences there will cramp my style, so to speak. I’ve always thought of Facebook as a space for adults, not young children. (I was going to say mature people, but then some people on Facebook are anything but.) I have no idea where the young children are hanging out (seems like it’s Facebook, heh) – are they hanging out anywhere else online?? – but I am not interested in hanging out with them.
Until now, I have maintained a Facebook account for a couple of reasons:
- I needed to keep an eye on it for work.
- Quite a number of people I know, but with whom I have no other regular contact with, are there.
Now, my job’s changed, and I no longer need to be quite so hands-on with all the tech.
I do also feel like I have definitely had enough of Facebook. The experience has actually been pretty boring for a while now. If I’m honest with myself, I don’t really want to commit the time to maintaining a real presence there. (And I don’t want to hang out with the kids!) Twitter has actually been far more enjoyable and rewarding, on a lot of levels.
It does seem a pity that I will be losing that contact with some people, though. Perhaps if I really want to keep in touch, I can make the effort? Facebook does make it easy to stay in touch, I have to admit.
I haven’t quite pulled the plug yet. I’ve taken my mugshot off and removed a lot of info from my profile. I might also go and collect the contact details from a few friends and acquaintances off the site.
Will I be missing out?
Worse still, am I just being a curmudgeon? (“Doesn’t want to hang out with the kiddies, she says!“)
9 Comments
Don’t think so. In fact your thinking has paralleled mine in many ways, and I’ve still not weaned myself totally off. I often feel it also has the feel of the worst aspects of huge shopping centres, soul-less and dedicated to cheap goods and high turn-overs.
Still haven’t quite left, though …
I like that analogy, Alethea. I dislike and avoid shopping centres, by the way.
It is not at all difficult to feel your online space cramped by family, I think – a bit like them coming into a bar when you’re out with friends ! I’ve taken my real name off my Twitter profile for that reason, and only have an account on Facebook for when my kids travel, to save them hotel Internet time when posting photos.
Coming from big, busy, local families as I do, I suppose I’m assuming that the social advantages for children who mix with aunts and uncles should arise in the physical space, where to be honest it’s hard enough to negotiate them, if some relatives tend to talk for their children instead of allowing them to answer questions! Intriguing post, Con, and I’m delighted to find the link to your presentation at VALA. Bookmarked!!
I’m starting to get requests from my cousin’s children (who are pre-teens). I have decided not to add them as “friends” for a number reasons. I don’t consider they need to know about my business or even that they would be interested in my burblings. Some of these 2nd cousins I haven’t even met! I guess you could just make a “policy” of not friending under a certain age unless it’s for a very good reason.
Also – the ability to tailor status updates etc to particular groups is quite handy.
I know what you mean, as I use twitter now and facebook is so, well, yesterday :-). Having said that I still use it to contact my son now he is living away and facebook gives a central place to share photos and information with family away from my (for want of a better term) ‘professional PLN’ on twitter.
I still love facebook, though I have no teenagers friending me 🙂 It’s a good mix of friends, family and professional. I have different sorts of conversations with different people on facebook, compared to twitter. I do keep my friends’ list tight and cull occasionally.
I have a no kid rule on my FB apart from my own 2 kids. My daughter’s friends tend to friend me but I just decline. Last I checked it wasn’t a god given right to be on someones friends list and lets face it, kids of this generation need to learn not everything goes their way 😉
Nearly quit yesterday. Decided to just check it every now and then.
Hi all, thanks for your opinions and suggestions. FB does have its place, but yeh for me it’s definitely getting “old”. I haven’t deleted my account yet, but I think it will become more or less inactive for a while. See how it goes…