Social Suicide

I've been thinking of quitting Facebook. Is that considered to be a form of social suicide?

I've always hated being "online" and have avoided things like posting pictures of me or my friends or writing anything personal about myself on the world wide web. Even at my last job, I avoided writing a section for the "Meet the Staff" page until my supervisor prodded me for the 3rd time four months into my job.

Yes, I sense the irony since you're reading about this on my all-about-me blog.

Being the rather private person that I consider myself to be, I just think Facebook's too much exposure. I don't feel comfortable with it.

Once, a friend told me that she found out about her friend's engagement being called off through Facebook. I told her I couldn't believe that it was posted on Facebook like that for everyone in the world to see. I'm sure that whatever the reason for the engagement cancellation, it was a sensitive and private issue. Does the world really need to know all your joys and sorrows in an instantaneous manner?

It's no wonder that an acquainance changed his last name from "Taylor" to "Ishidingfrompotentialemployers" on his facebook profile.

It's as though you need to be more aware of your every action because, undoubtedly, there will be someone carrying a digital camera with them ready to catch your every act of stupidity (of which I am sure I'm guilty of committing many) and then thereafter posting it online.

Looking stupid is not really my main fear, maybe it's just wanting to keep certain things at a distance.

What prompted me to write about this was because I noticed that so many of my former teachers were on Facebook. It was a bit eerie. When I was a student, I looked at these people with a sense of distance. They were teachers, I was a student. Although some teachers have turned into good friends, it's hard to imagine that if I add them as a "friend" on Facebook , I will have full access to their private lives (which may include wild partying, their every feeling as they "update" us, etc) as well as them having access to mine.

The same friend who told me about her friend's engagement being called off told me that she enjoys Facebook because it has allowed her to keep in touch with people that she's known in the past but have lost touch with. That's definitely important. I agree.

But I also said, there's probably a reason why people fall out of touch. If relationships are important to us, then we'd do our best to keep them going, right? Even if it means one brief email every other year, we make the effort of showing we care. If either party feels that correspondence is no longer necessary, isn't this a sign that people have slowly grown apart or that people, in general, just grow?

I honestly don't think that contains any sort of message signifying you as a bad friend or an inconsiderate person. It's just a part of life, isn't it?

Anyway, I think I've blabbed on for too long about this. I think Facebook has its great attributes as with many other technologies that have allowed us to keep in touch with each other. There are just certain things about it that I find slightly unnerving.

I will hold off on committing this act of social suicide, but please don't be surprised if I disappear one day into thin air in the world of Facebook.