[toadi]

Don't see what the problem is? Why do you need to quit facebook? Even after reading all these arguments.

I'm on facebook where I occasionally share a picture of my son or a picture from something I enjoy. I don't post often but this way my parents en grandparents can see my son growing up. Don't actually care if my 'friends' see this.

When I'm on the toilet I sometimes take my iphone and check the FB stream. Check it when I don't have much time or feel like investing a lot of effort in reading something.

Just use it like you want to use it. This whole social network hype, like you can only be social online. People have been social even before the phone was invented. It is just another extra tool and doesn't replace normal social interaction. It never will!

[scott_s]

I have a similar perspective. I know many people whose only electronic communication is on Facebook - it's essentially an integrated email, chat and twitter client with a custom homepage. I have private message threads going with people, and it's essentially email. I have no problem with this.

FB is also a convenient way to keep in contact with people you no longer live near and see on a regular basis. I feel bad for the people who obsess over status updates and feel compelled to share everything. Because if you don't do that, it can actually be a great way to keep in contact with people you actually care about.

[awakeasleep]

I'm really interested in the difference between your perspective (which I share) and the perspective of Mr Pavlina (which my friends share).

I see people's attitudes towards FB fall into these two distinct camps:

1) People who feel compelled by FB somehow, and end up deleting their profiles or "Quitting" entirely, and

2) People who have a profile, but don't feel compelled to check it or interact- except at their leisure.

I think it has something to do with implied disrespect when you don't get back to people quickly; Ignoring a text or phone call sends a message. Does 'ignoring' a facebook ping send that same message? What about failing to respond to an indirect message on Facebook? There must be some sort of social phenomenon putting uncomfortable pressure on people somewhere in the setup of facebook.

[DanI-S]

For me, Facebook is a cool address book that lets me contact people I know in a less 'immediate' way to text/phone. I'm not friends with people that I don't know in real life. I look at it once a day to see if anyone has posted anything interesting; from time to time I might post a cool link I've found, or a couple of photos, or something I heard in the news that pissed me off.

This guy, with 5000 friends, strikes me as odd - isn't that more like what Twitter is for? I don't think Facebook was conceived with that kind of usage in mind. It doesn't scale to display such huge amounts of data particularly well.

It's fascinating how people will adapt your product to uses that you didn't intend; it must also be frustrating to hear them moan about it.

[alex_c]

I fall squarely into the second camp, and most of my friends know it - they don't expect a reply from me on facebook, and for something time-sensitive they contact me through email or phone.

Everyone has different means of communication they prefer. Some people like to stick to email or IM, others vastly prefer phone, some people always let their phone go to voicemail and call you back at their leisure (or not at all). There's always going to be some give-and-take, Facebook is just another piece in that puzzle.

[toadi]

I agree. But I don't see Facebook as a direct communication link. It is just a feed that I consume at my leisure.

If you want to contact me and are in my circle of people that have my cell number that is the best way to directly contact me. But even on my cell I sometimes choose not to pick up immediately and listen to the voicemail. This way I can decide if the message needs my direct interaction.

Anyway people put to high of hopes on tools. Social interaction is about people and not the tools.

[yaix]

"Ignoring a text or phone call sends a message."

No it doesn't.

At least no for me. If I ignore a call or text, I was busy. If its important, s/he'll call again. If I forget to call back later, I forgot it. No drama.

Or maybe its just this kind of acting that makes the drama people stop contacting me. Sort of natural selection. Works pretty well.

[runjake]

I can sympathize. EVERYONE is on Facebook, and it's dead simple to use. I almost solely use it to post pictures of & stories about the kids to relatives. It also allows me to keep in touch with geo distant relatives' lives without them having to write it out on a postcard.

I don't know of anything else that is in the same galaxy of convenience. If Facebook didn't do this, I wouldn't ever have signed up for an account at all.

[cjeane]

I agree that FB is dead simple to use; I just wish it was just dead simple to protect my data.

[dualboot]

It is simple to protect your data. Don't put anything on Facebook that you want protected.

[gnosis]

"It is simple to protect your data. Don't put anything on Facebook that you want protected."

Like your list of friends?

No corporation has a right to know who my friends are. And keeping off sites like Facebooks is one of the best ways to keep that information private.

[cjeane]

Yes the only way to be 100% safe is to not use FB. All I'm asking for is a little effort.

[apotheon]

. . . like your account information.

Oops.

[CamperBob]

Yeah, right, and tell your 200 friends to do the same.

[jdale27]

EVERYONE is on Facebook

No. Not everyone is on Facebook. Sure, it's useful, but it's not the be-all and end-all of communication, and it will not replace every other means of communication ever invented. Stop this nonsense.

[phlux]

I'm not on facebook, I have never had an account. never will.

[apotheon]

It provides sort of a "first hit is free" experience when you're trying to ignore it. "Oh, I'll just check my wall really quickly," followed by "I'm going to check this person's wall, because that comment was interesting," followed by more.

I don't have that problem. My problem is that I notice someone invited me to a party two months ago, and didn't bother to contact me via direct email -- something I actually check regularly. I'm socially lazy in a way completely different from the social lazy he describes; I don't make any effort to check the various online sources of "socialness" with any regularity, in part because I'm an introverted hermit. I do well in social settings, but first you have to get me to a social setting.

Despite this, I can understand the siren call of a service like Facebook for some people, because on the rare occasion I remember to check my Facebook page I can hear it calling. After about five or ten minutes, though, I get tired of it and stop for another month or two. Many others do not have that low threshold for getting tired of the Facebook experience, and I can see how someone might get sucked in.

If you're one of those people, the only way to scale back might be to quit cold turkey. In fact, I think that's probably true for the majority of regular (as in "common and frequent") Facebook users, though they may not realize it.

[cma]

Turn on email notifications. In fact, they are on by default.

[apotheon]

I do not need my inbox filled with the same crap that appears on Facebook. My email is for other purposes (like actual personal, direct contact, in the case of the address I give my real-world friends). Facebook is designed like a public feeding trough.