To Facebook or Not to Facebook
There is enormous pressure on me lately to join Facebook. Truthfully, I've been avoiding the trend for a year now which seems requisite for actors these days. My friend Tom who teaches acting at a university claims it's a great way to keep up with his students. His students are undergrads. And honestly, I always thought Facebook was a place where teenage girls post pictures of their boyfriend du jour, destroy the reputations of other teenage girls and flaunt their popularity by how many "friends" they have. But apparently I'm wrong. The only two members of my graduate program who are not on Facebook are myself and our most senior member who is 57 years old. I'm starting to feel a little out of the loop on some things. In fact, our program itself even has its own Facebook page which I have never seen. But here's an example of why I'm hesitant to join:A couple of months ago my friend Tom called me and said "Do you remember Steve So-and-So?" (not his real name). "Uh...yeah," says I. Steve So-and-So was a guy I dated for a month or two back in 1993 when Tom and I were roommates together in our first apartment in New York. "Well," says Tom, "He found me on Facebook and remembered I was your roommate...he says hi." Now you see--THAT'S why I don't want to join Facebook. I don't want to hear from Steve S0-and-So. Or anyone else from my past I just as soon not ever run into again. On top of that I hear it's highly addictive. I watched an episode of Bravo's Flipping Out where a guy got fired for checking his Facebook page 150 times in three hours. I don't need that kind of distraction right now. But I may just cave to the peer pressure. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: I caved and joined Facebook.
Labels: Blogging
posted by Michael @ 7:46 AM
4 Comments:
I was slow to join Facebook for all the reasons you mention. I'm glad I changed my mind and got with the times. It's a great way to stay in touch with my current friends and I've had the good fortune to hook up with friends from the past. I don't get caught up in all the other parts of Facebook. I don't send good karma, or have a puppy, or buy lighting instruments.
Hey Mikey
This would be MySpace and Xanga - not facebook - so get one so i can friend you!
"I always thought Facebook was a place where teenage girls post pictures of their boyfriend du jour, destroy the reputations of other teenage girls and flaunt their popularity by how many "friends" they have..."
Did I tell you you should join too? I know Allison did. Indeed, time to get with the times! It will be overwhelming at first, and then you'll realize you can come on when you want and check out new pics of your nieces ;-). Also, you can feel free to "ignore" friend requests. God knows I have.
So . . . did you join? I did and I hate it, and I regularly hear from people that I didn't really ever need to hear from. I wish I could delete my account, and I guess I could, but it would seem a bit weird at this point. I'm definitely not addicted, and I changed my preferences so it doesn't e-mail me when I hear from people. I just check in once a week. Eeek, I should have resisted.
I keep thinking maybe I'll hear from someone I'm glad to hear from? Not yet. :)
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