Facebook: A Final Solution
So you’ve seen the latest update to Facebook, and you don’t like it.
Yes, there have been many more tweaks and updates in the past which you haven’t liked for a while, then got used to; but THIS ONE – THIS one takes the final jaffa cake.
-
Okay then.
Remove yourself from Facebook.
Go on. It’s not (too) difficult.
Except that if you have had this thought of leaving Facebook, like I have; you will immediately be deluged by something along the lines of the following thoughts:
-
For me there is something inherently unsettling about the fact that Facebook has so much of an influence on how I conduct my social life; and yet I find it almost impossible to think of a way to get away from it.
More and more of the things I am interested in, tell me things via Facebook.
There are probably about 60 of my friends that I am only in touch with still, via Facebook (and even then it is just a passive reading of their occasional status updates).
So even if I were to jump ship to the marginally-more-preferable Google Plus; I would be losing touch with most of my ‘friends’, and no doubt missing out on ‘vital’ social events, and people will undoubtedly forget my birthday again (tested earlier this year when I removed my DOB from Facebook, thus removing the reminder to everyone about it).
-
I do not like being in a situation where I have lost control.
Yes, I know, I have the ultimate control of deleting my profile from the site – but has Facebook become too ingrained in the way of everybody’s online life, that it is too late to leave?
I can only imagine how infinitely more nightmarish this would be if i’d opened up my profile to link to my wider family, and my work colleagues.
=
So, I think I have a solution; and here it is:
Remove all of your close friends/family from Facebook
The thinking here is that your close friends you can keep in touch with via more ‘traditional’ routes – email and text (okay so not as traditional as ‘by post’, but I’m not advocating a return to the stone age here!).
You can let everyone of these know (via email, or a closing Facebook note) of your main contact details, so they have them if they need to get in touch.
And ask them to remember you when they organise those *really* important social gatherings.
Remove the ‘likes’ on all of your favourite things
So all those bands you really follow, or tv shows you want to hear more about? Find out through other means.
Every band you like will have a webpage at least – I trust you’ve remembered how to bookmark a webpage?
As for those things you’re not so fussed about anymore – just let them be. I doubt you’ll miss them.
Leave only your most distant (but still key) friends
So this is optional if you have people left on Facebook that you don’t exactly want to say ‘hey there, don’t forget my email/mobile number and to invite me to all your cool things’, but you might want to still get in touch with them one day.
My solution (for now) is to keep these people as friends on Facebook. Then you can just log in once a week/month to catch up on their lives if you need to – or just log in when you really need to contact them about something (but you just don’t know what at the moment).
-
Ultimately – ask yourself this: Do I really care about what happens to this person in their life?
If the answer is yes, and Facebook is the ONLY contact forum you have for them, keep them on Facebook for that unknown day of contact.
Otherwise, delete them as a ‘friend’ and either embrace them as a true friend through – you know – old school conversation – or, at the other end of the scale; forget them forever.
Yes, there have been many more tweaks and updates in the past which you haven’t liked for a while, then got used to; but THIS ONE – THIS one takes the final jaffa cake.
-
Okay then.
Remove yourself from Facebook.
Go on. It’s not (too) difficult.
Except that if you have had this thought of leaving Facebook, like I have; you will immediately be deluged by something along the lines of the following thoughts:
- But it’s how I keep in touch with most of my friends
- It’s how I observe the subtle nuances to my friends’ lives and I feel more connected that way
- It’s how I know what events are happening
- It’s how I keep up to date with all the news about my favourite artist/band/director/films/tv shows/cats
-
For me there is something inherently unsettling about the fact that Facebook has so much of an influence on how I conduct my social life; and yet I find it almost impossible to think of a way to get away from it.
More and more of the things I am interested in, tell me things via Facebook.
There are probably about 60 of my friends that I am only in touch with still, via Facebook (and even then it is just a passive reading of their occasional status updates).
So even if I were to jump ship to the marginally-more-preferable Google Plus; I would be losing touch with most of my ‘friends’, and no doubt missing out on ‘vital’ social events, and people will undoubtedly forget my birthday again (tested earlier this year when I removed my DOB from Facebook, thus removing the reminder to everyone about it).
-
I do not like being in a situation where I have lost control.
Yes, I know, I have the ultimate control of deleting my profile from the site – but has Facebook become too ingrained in the way of everybody’s online life, that it is too late to leave?
I can only imagine how infinitely more nightmarish this would be if i’d opened up my profile to link to my wider family, and my work colleagues.
=
So, I think I have a solution; and here it is:
Remove all of your close friends/family from Facebook
The thinking here is that your close friends you can keep in touch with via more ‘traditional’ routes – email and text (okay so not as traditional as ‘by post’, but I’m not advocating a return to the stone age here!).
You can let everyone of these know (via email, or a closing Facebook note) of your main contact details, so they have them if they need to get in touch.
And ask them to remember you when they organise those *really* important social gatherings.
Remove the ‘likes’ on all of your favourite things
So all those bands you really follow, or tv shows you want to hear more about? Find out through other means.
Every band you like will have a webpage at least – I trust you’ve remembered how to bookmark a webpage?
As for those things you’re not so fussed about anymore – just let them be. I doubt you’ll miss them.
Leave only your most distant (but still key) friends
So this is optional if you have people left on Facebook that you don’t exactly want to say ‘hey there, don’t forget my email/mobile number and to invite me to all your cool things’, but you might want to still get in touch with them one day.
My solution (for now) is to keep these people as friends on Facebook. Then you can just log in once a week/month to catch up on their lives if you need to – or just log in when you really need to contact them about something (but you just don’t know what at the moment).
-
Ultimately – ask yourself this: Do I really care about what happens to this person in their life?
If the answer is yes, and Facebook is the ONLY contact forum you have for them, keep them on Facebook for that unknown day of contact.
Otherwise, delete them as a ‘friend’ and either embrace them as a true friend through – you know – old school conversation – or, at the other end of the scale; forget them forever.
Comments
Post a Comment