Here's the thing. I'm on Facebook because I kinda have to be for my work. But while people gush over it being a timesuck and loving the connections they are making with old school chums, I have to stop and think, "Really?" How is it a timesuck? How does anyone spend more than 5 minutes on Facebook without losing their everloving mind?" Just what exactly is the appeal? Is it the endless quizzes and apps and rating of the ads? Is it the snooping around? The chatting? Because I kinda hate Facebook.
Okay, I admit it. The snooping around can be sorta fun.
I hate that it is a place where my real-life friends, my blog friends, my work associates, my exs, my grade school classmates, people who never talked to me in high school but still want to be my friend, foreign guys who are looking for wives, and my babysitters all collide in one place. That creeps me out so much that I even suspended my Facebook account for awhile. It's not easy to delete it, I tried.
But then I realized that (gah!) as a blogging and social media consultant, I needed to have a Facebook account. There are plenty of big and small companies and individuals implementing lots of cool social media programs on Facebook and I want to know about them. I just don't want to have to make decisions about whether to friend people who I don't know or in some cases, don't like. (I'm 40, I don't feel guilty about not friending you.) I really don't like that people are able to post pictures of me and tag them, especially pictures of me in high school. (I do appreciate the untag feature, though.) I don't like that it is morphing into something that is starting to closely resemble my beloved Twitter.
I'm almost 40. I left high school behind when I was 17. If I knew you in high school and we still talk, then I appreciate the fact that our friendship has lasted throughout the years. If I didn't and you're trying to be my friend on Facebook, well, that creeps me out a little. I know that it may seem like I live a pretty open life because I blog about certain aspects of it, but really, I like my boundaries. Maybe that's what 40 is, the year of better, bigger, boundaries. And a little less Facebook.
—Stefania/CityMama
