Facebook Breakup

In Chapter Ten of Baron's A Better Pencil, it is stated that "Facebook and Myspace remain the go-to sites for a full service meet and greet" (183). This was published in 2008, when I believe Twitter was still relatively new. Things have changed--at least in my opinion.

Facebook is not as popular as it once was just a few years ago. The four years I was in high school were definitely recorded and talked about on Facebook. I didn't do that as much as my peers, but I got Facebook because all of my friends had it. A few years later I discovered Twitter, and quite honestly, I like it much, much better than Facebook. I've come to the point where I am seriously considering a breakup with the site.

I never thought I would. Believe me: I have spent countless hours browsing Facebook when I could actually be doing something productive. Since entering college and growing up a little, I've realized I don't like wasting time on Facebook anymore. I don't like spending hours on any website anymore. Most sites I spend two hours at the very most on. The least can range from five to fifteen minutes.

Another reason I want to breakup with Facebook is that, quite frankly, I am sick and tired of reading about and seeing people's life stories, their issues, their opinions that no one asked for, and their private/intimate lives that few people truly care about.

Hate me and call me cynical, but in all honesty your opinion about how something is wrong and the whole world is going to crap because of it is just clogging my feed and making my eyes twitch.

 

Sorry, I just got a little ranty. My apologies. And I am aware that my opinion could be seen as hypocritical since I have Twitter and this blog. Let me explain myself.

 

Blogs are meant to be long-winded and kind of personal. Not who you're sleeping with or why you hate so-and-so, but personal as in you give general, nonspecific info about your life. Most blogs are made because the blogger believes he/she has something to say; most people who read blogs want to hear what the author has to say. (If you want to promote a charity or inspiring story on Facebook, that's way different and I don't find that irritating.)Twitter, on the other hand, is supposed to be personable but in a different way. You can only give snippets of your thoughts and life story. If you write ten tweets describing your issue, no one is going to care; no one is going to scroll scroll scroll to read ten different tweets.

 

And that is why I like Twitter more. If I really want to know about someone's life, I can look him/her up on Facebook or his/her website. I do not feel like I am being forced to read something. I want snippets, not full-fledge stories--I read novels for those. I know I can unfollow people, but if I did that I wouldn't really have anything on my feed. Which sounds like my goal, but if I delete my Facebook, I know I will lose contact with several friends I do not see more than once a year and I will be left out in the cold for get-together and events; mass texts to plan a movie night etc is just a pain and greatly inefficient. See my dilemma?

 

I suppose I could look up as many friends as I can on Twitter, but so far when I ask my friends for their Twitter, they ignore me or say "Oh, I never go on there." Even with the direct messaging, my social group is way more into Instagram and Facebook than Twitter--it's super frustrating!

 

The only reason I am still on Facebook is for the reasons above: I need some way to know what is happening and where I should be and what time on a Friday night. In reality, I just want to abandon Facebook and never look back. Will I? Probably not. My consolation is that I cannot be the only one who wants to abandon a social media site but feels the irritating need to remain for her social life.