I don't know how addicted you are to fB...but for me: on a scale of 1-10 I'd rate myself a high 8. I have been known to check my fB from my iPhone, my computer, and sometimes unfortunately...even someone else's computer. I check my facebook more than three times a day. I spend sometimes fifteen minutes, sometimes an hour or more sifting through the profiles, pictures, and posts of those people who I don't see day-to-day. I post pictures directly from my phone to fB and spend time moving my 'Myspace world' to my fB. I love updating my personal information to fit my most current experiences, and I currently am involved in a commenting love-fest, it's my absolute favorite. Picture comments, status updates, notes, surveys, quizzes...you name it. I am noticing more and more people living their lives for the sole purpose of flaunting it via Facebook and I might surprise you by saying: I don't think it's a bad thing. Although it
is ridiculously unnecessary in a survival scenario it is socially accepted and encouraged, it is free and it fills the gaps between conversation, work, and play. There is a boundary you just have to be careful not to cross. When you exchange real friends for fB friends, it's probably not the healthiest choice and if you choose fB activities (farmville, poker, otherVille) instead of real activities, you are starting to cross over into the World Of Warcraft, eat at the computer, sleep with it up-style addiction...but for the most part, people find a comfort web of oldies but goodies online. An easy way to exchange music, ideas, stories, pictures, and hone pointless skills. I'm also pleased to see people finding the beauty in life and capturing it. Beautiful places, or humor in daily life. Taking time away from self-portraiture is something that doesn't come easy for all of us, but there are a few people really do let me experience their lifes beauty through them and their experiences on fB. A plethora of reasons to use the site; I can easily keep up to date with old friends and new friends, stay connected to family from far-away and make big issues into small issues with a click or a poke.
In my opinion fB is a step down and a step up from Myspace in my opinion. Myspace is a disgusting advertising whore while fB is a little bit more discreet. fB however took away raw html talent that was needed to make Myspace beautiful. Blogging also became less of a focus.
I'm kind of old school, or I was. I loved LiveJournal, just blogging. They should have called it 'drama journal' though and I'm more than glad it's gone. However, one sentence "updates" kind of made me sick in the initial thought process of moving from Myspace to fB. I remember thinking: "who needs to do that?" and then I clicked [agree to terms of service] and I started to understand. I was also sad to see the customized site-like face gone of Myspace. When I first moved from LiveJournal to Myspace, it defined me...all the color schemes and pictures, definitions and glittery pot teddy bears. It was the coolest form of expression I had ever known...and yet I feel like Myspace consumed me less than fB ever has. I would check it and recheck it, a couple times a day...be stoked for new picture comments or blogs and move on with my authentic life...but this BOOKFACE you're all talking about is a whole other story. I can find myself losing hours of my day to the constant upkeep of comments and pokes...stories and links. I'm not a big game player, but I am a profile surfer, from one to the next to the next, commenting and commenting and commenting.
Here is an article posted 10/2009, are you addicted to facebook (for your sockets)
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/lifestyle/10/20/09/are-you-facebook-addict
If we've got addicts so we've gotta have some common courtesies for fB.
1. Write at least one note or go to Twitter.
2. Picture comment those who picture comment you
3. Don't fill up the wall...use with reserve.
I'd like to come back and expand on these at some point...but need food desperately.
Agree? Disagree?...don't give a flying horses ass-fuck?
I feel the SAME way. I loved livejournal. It should have been called drama journal, that would be so fitting. I refuse to delete my account because I don't want to delete all of those memories I have typed in there.
ReplyDeleteI remember staying up until 10am writing myspace profile code. I would make my own profiles, a few at a time. had tons of saved notebook files. i was always creating new 'about me' and movie/book/music lists. i felt like i needed it to help define who i was.
i feel like facebook is more about connections
i can still share who i am, to as many people as i want. but i can easily see what they're up to.
i spend WAY too much time on facebook, not because I super enjoy it, but because it is a way to pass the time when I am procrastinating. it is so easy to keep scrolling through hundreds of pictures of people you don't know. I'm not sure why that is. our brains are strange. i'd like to cut back on facebooking to a nice moderate non-obsessive amount.