
A year without Facebook: three reasons why you can’t avoid it - appricot
https://medium.com/@sali/a-year-without-facebook-three-reasons-why-you-cant-avoid-it-8c63bc910bb7
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rndmind
_Facebook has the best news stream. Period._

This is delusional and a little spooky.

I deleted my facebook account around the same time my Aunts began creating
accounts. I have never looked back. It is repulsive how superficial and
political the social network has become. A tool as powerful as a social
network connecting the globe should not be publicly owned on the stock market.
It shouldn't even be profit driven.

I still get laid, and stay in close contact with good friends from school and
university. But I suspect my relationships now are more meaningful and
genuine. I would rather get 1 written birthday card, than 50 chintzy public
and identical birthday wishes written on my "wall". </rant>

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kafkaesq
_1\. I was missing important life events of close friends_

Then maybe they weren't that "close."

 _2\. I lost touch with many people. There are people I have so much in
common. We used to talk and hang out often, but all our online discussion was
based on Facebook. I realized I didn’t have their phone number, nor email.
Facebook was the only channel to talk to them._

There's a pretty simple cure for this, actually: "I'm actually not on FB / I'm
on it but I don't really use it that often. How about I just email you?"

 _3\. Facebook has the best news stream. Period._

I give up. This one's just too weird.

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MrZongle2
Horse hockey.

I've stayed abreast of events in the lives of close friends because.... _I
talk to them in real life._

I stayed in touch with people.... _because I used the phone or email_.

I stayed up-to-date on news... _because I followed several different news
sources directly_.

People who won't communicate with you because you're not on Facebook _aren 't
your friends_. If you can't be bothered to exert the _minimum_ effort to keep
in touch with people (a problem that is far, _far_ older than Facebook), you
probably don't need to stay in touch. And if you aren't motivated to _make_
the time to keep abreast of world events outside of a curated soundbite
machine, chances are that it doesn't make much of a difference.

I hate to sound so damn curmudgeonly, but I don't understand why so many folks
are hellbent on creating a symbiotic (some would say parasitic) relationship
with a large data-gathering corporation.

