Saturday, March 7, 2009

Ten Reasons I Don't Facebook

I have a few friends who, in good fun, like to give me hard time about not being on Facebook. I have to admit that it is slightly tempting, but overall my reaction is a resounding no. Please don't misunderstand, I'm not saying no one should be on Facebook. This is a personal choice, based on some specific principles for me. So, in an effort to explain why you won't find me there and to remind myself of why I don't have 500 friends *grin*, here are a few of my thoughts...

1. I would want to check it all the time. I'm not going to sit here and try to tell you that I'm just too busy, but it is my heart's desire for my focus to be on my family and I know I would be pulled in by it. I'm working hard on self discipline and I don't need another challenge.

2. Relationships. I think our culture has lost so much as each new social networking technology is launched. I think we are on dangerous ground as a society in regards to our ability to interact with one another and how we define friendship and love. Call me old fashioned, but I don't think my first community is online.


3. I have rejection issues. When I maxed out at 10 friends, I would be devastated...

4. I had someone come up to me recently at a funeral, of all places, and told me that she had no idea we had a third child in our family. She thinks she saw a picture of Abigail and I on Facebook. Um, seriously. That's just plain scary.

5. There probably are some people that I really just don't want to hear from or be "friends" with. And I would not have it in me to say no. I realize how I sound, but what can I say, it's the truth. I've never been real good with fakeness.

6. I do not need to know that Sally in Wallakazoo updated that her son picked his nose and now she's taking her daughter to ballet. Oh and by the way, after that, she's going to have her eyebrows waxed.

7. I have had people tell me that if I want to keep up with them and communicate, then I would have to get on Facebook. What?! This does nothing to assuade the inner rebel lurking within me. Also, see number 2 above.

8. Back to the inner rebel I just mentioned, I've got this thing with technology. It can be a very, very good thing. But I think it has contributed to our society's plague of instant gratification and it will only get worse. Job performance, marriages...we're losing the art of living and the satisfaction that comes with it.

9. My sister, Jaclyn, and Richie would kill me. Richie doesn't get the enticement of it. He's around high schoolers all day who eat, sleep, and breathe this stuff, so to him it's silly. (Richie, if I've misrepresented this, feel free to comment or just tell me I'm a goon and I'll update this.) Jaclyn, on the other hand, made me go through a series of rituals, including giving her my 34th child if I caved in, committing to never joining Facebook. *chesire grin*

10. I'm a slacker. I don't want to have to learn a bunch of new lingo and stuff. I'm just beginning to feel like I'm getting the hang of this blogging thing. Bumper stickers belong on cars, not my profile. And since when did it become acceptable to write on walls? *grin*

There are times when I feel like I'm missing out, but for the most part not. Unless God specifically tells me to join, and I mean burning bush specific, I won't be there. And if He does, let's hope I never have a 34th child...


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10 comments:

Anonymous said...

You had me at number one :)
Love you!

Karen said...

well well well...WHERE do i begin? yes, just for the public record I AM ONE OF THE ONES CHIDING HER for missing out on the holy sacrement of Facebook....it Is in the Book of Revelation, you know...in the Amplified, Facebook is spoken of as carrying the holiest of holy people which, of course is why I AM ON AND YOU ARE NOT...........

and if you really dont care that I am going to the grocery store AFTER i get my botox treatment, then YOUR loss...you are just missing out on the crucial info of my life...

Oh, and the fear of rejection...you can do what my brother does - he makes up friends.....seriously...AND i would loan you some of mine....

ok ok...I know I will not convince you. I just like seeing that stubborn mule kick its heels JUST a little higher and snub me...AGAIN...........

Anonymous said...

First, I hope your body doesn't have to go through having 34 children.

Secondly, I hope your fingers don't have to suffer the horrible pain of signing up for facebook.

Thirdly, we made a deal. A deal is a deal. No facebook. People are so losing the art of talking, being real, and writing hand written letters to each other.

Don't give in to the peer pressure...ahem, Karen.

Anonymous said...

OK... so I'm waiting for my handwritten letter from the two of you! :)

Jolanthe said...

writing on walls - and POKING people. I wasn't sure if that was just poking or something worse and when there are people in my church on facebook...I didn't want to do the wrong thing! {grins}

but I am on facebook - mainly due to finding several high school/college friends that I haven't talked to in years...and not sure how I would have found them otherwise...

and I had a hard time not accepting friends too - I even had to drop a couple, because some were just WEIRD! but my theory has been if I didn't have a real relationship or actual conversations with them and really know them on some level, I don't accept them.

but anyway...not trying to convince you! :) it can suck you in...and I try to avoid it as much as possible.

Karen said...

peer pressure continues...jaclyn....oh wait, doggone it, blood is thicker than water, right? so anything i say is mincemeat.........even if there WERE a burning bush in her backyard, that pinky swear promise she made to her sister will NOT budge.....

i am up against impossible odds...

guess i will go "down" like the valiant fighters at the alamo....*sigh* and, like them, i am figthing a worthy cause...possibly, like them, one day my efforts will produce freedom....and there will be a movie made about my courage in the face of dire odds.......

lets face it...you are both SCARED...yup...if i psychoanlyze this enough, i can come up with a DSM IX catagory of psychosis..and mental illness is always easier when you are in "group" with others with the same ailment....

Margy said...

The apple did fall a little farther than we suspected. Her own mom is on facebook. Does not know what to do with it. Basically because she is never on it. She succumbed to peer pressure and now wishes hse has not. But seriously, one good outcome is that I had lost track of a good church co worker and we connected. The bad part is that I don't want to tlak to her on face book and I do nopt know how else to do it. The worst part...well, could be all that Jo Ann mentioned minus me getting sucked into it since I do not go on it at all. I will sometime if only to allow the "new friends" that have added me. Where were they when I was having a tea party?

Jamerrill @ Holy Spirit-led Homeschooling said...

Why I facebook... :0)

I know your sharing why YOU don't facebook, and that's coole. I'm on facebook at a ministry tool, really. I have several unsaved family members and old highschool/college peeps that the Lord has opened many doors w/ all b/c of using facebook at a tool. I know, no personal relationships, but I've found a lot of witnessing going on.

J

Christina said...

I think anything online is a time sucker...here I am...online when I should be sleeping...

Margie said...

I was interested in your post that Davene linked to because I, too, am not on FB. You might enjoy this article (originally a blog post) by Elizabeth Esther on the subject. It's called, "Why I Broke Up With Facebook." Here's the link:http://www.ocregister.com/articles/facebook-friends-one-2332146-people-life