Mark Schmuckerberg Zuckerberg says we’re all schizophrenic over Facebook if we have privacy concerns. I’m not sure Marky-mark understands what schizophrenia is, but, whatever. As for me, Mark will be glad to know that I ditched my Facebook page a few weeks ago, after getting one too many stupid e-mails about something or other, and being creeped out when my “friends” started showing up on CNN and the Crappington Post. Not that they make it any easier to delete your page completely than they do to check and reset your privacy settings, but after jumping through a few million hoops, I think I’ve finally killed it.
Getting rid of Facebook reminded me a bit of trying to delete AOL when I had it way back when. AOL, Facebook, iTunes…. Shit people flock to because it’s “easy,” without realizing that it also sucks (and, yes, though you should know me by now, I write that tongue firmly in cheek, fully prepared for the outrage that occurs whenever you poke fun at things like Apple – by the way, I have it on good authority that the iPad2 makes a great Father’s Day gift for the father of your dogs, though I’d prefer a 3G Xoom since it has USB ports, a memory card slot, and supports Flash, which is what I mean by people accepting things that suck because they’re perceived to be easier to use or better marketed – Facebook, or Barry Bonds).
Not that I don’t understand the advantages of Facebook, mind you (though I was more of a consumer of it than a “content provider”). It’s nice to keep up and share things with friends and family that are spread out all over the world, and I certainly don’t fault anybody else for using it.
There are better ways to do all that, IMHO, but it’s more or less impossible to get other people to do it. And if other people won’t do it, then it really isn’t better, is it?
Fortunately for me, I’m content to be alone on my island, going through my days quietly going about my unsung yet heroic duties of saving the lives of toads and doing uninteresting and incomprehensible web application programming that nobody – least of all me – cares about, as I watch myself slowly (not so slowly these days) decay into old age and death.
Gee, my old Facebook Friends must really miss my cheery outlook on life. Good thing I still have Twitter.