Facebook Free!

Recently, I deactivated my Facebook account after having it for almost two years.  I originally signed up for FB upon the recommendation of a friend who thought it would be a good way to keep in touch.  My friend was correct about the ease of communicating on a daily basis with those who are closest to you but my account morphed into something else altogether.  I went from having a few legitimate friends to falling prey to the 'friend collecters' who hoard friends as if they were gold!  Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with that but I don't like being solicited by someone from let's say, Inner Mongolia, who has no intention of trying to get to know me.  They just initiate a friend request and then disappear once you've added them.  Worse than those though are the friends who post some mundane detail of their lives every five minutes for all to see yet never comment on your posts concerning major surgery, etc.  It's like they use FB as a tool to be the stars of their own show with an adoring audience hanging on their every word.  Sorry, but I left all that behind in high school.

Privacy concerns were the excuse I used to finally leave FB but the reasons given above are the real cause of my departure.  Sure, I reconnected with some people from my past but getting to know some of them again reminded me of why we originally let our contact lapse.  Anyway, I'm sure my true friends will find a way to keep in touch with me even after my abrupt departure from the almighty FB.

So now, I am relieved.  I can return to the real world where friendship has meaning and is demonstrated by having an occasional lunch together, a quick phone call, or even an interesting e-mail.  I much prefer this to the artificial relationships created by some social site on the web.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing, it's just not for me.