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Facebook is no place for valentines

February 14, 2012 by Dave Knadler

Just say no.

A few words about Facebook. After doing without it for a week, I can say that the self-exile didn’t make much difference. At the start it did feel like the loss of some vestigial sense — that third eye that focuses only on other people’s minutiae — but the feeling quickly faded. At this moment my little deadline has expired, but I still haven’t felt a strong urge to return. It appears the world keeps turning whether I do or not. Good to know.

Over the past week I did seem to waste slightly less time. That left me free to waste more time on other things, like watching old clips from Flight of the Conchords on YouTube. Hilarious! If I did happen to be doing anything productive, I was slightly less distracted by the urge to see if my latest dopey status update was getting any traction. They almost never do. I’m pretty sure I didn’t miss much.

Bottom line: Facebook, meh. The Internet is important, but the world’s largest social media site is surprisingly not — at least to a man whose Facebook friends and family couldn’t fill a two-car garage. It’s not an evil force, but it’s not much help either. Especially when you consider the time spent on it versus the superficiality of the social connections it purports to provide. Then there’s the privacy thing. And the certainty that everything you do on Facebook makes it that much easier to sell you stuff you don’t need.

Anyway, it’s Valentine’s Day. My exile’s up, but I think today’s Facebook time might be better spent picking up some small token of affection for the wife. Here’s to the physical world! Besides, I imagine the site will still be there when I get back.

More along these lines:

  • standard cat memeOne lab rat to another
  • Some dopamine of one’s ownSome dopamine of one’s own
  • Too much sharing, not enough contentToo much sharing, not enough content
  • twitter know-nothingsToo many stars and too much history
  • andy samberg as zuckerbergAll your life belong to Facebook

Filed Under: Facebook, social media

About Dave Knadler

Obscure writer. Lazy photographer. Bashful guitarist. Perhaps too fond of wine. Tireless nemesis of New York Times crosswords.

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