Am I The Only Person Left On The Planet Not On Facebook?

Not a day goes by where someone does not ask me if I am on Facebook.  And it's not just people anymore, it's my son's preschool, my favorite consignment store, my gym. 

"Become our fan on Facebook." 

"I'm not on Facebook." 

"Huh?" 

"I'm not on Facebook" 

"How is that possible?"

I write for three blogs.  I practically live on twitter.  You want to find me on the Internet, you can find me on the Internet. 

Do I really need another Internet addiction?

I do have a confession to make.  The other night, I couldn't sleep, and I signed up for facebook.  I had it search my email and I realized, everyone I know is on Facebook.  If I create a page, and link jodifur, I'm out.  Everyone finds the blog.  Even if I don't link the blog, my bloggy friends will friend me and somehow everything will get commingled.  And I'm just not ready for that.  I promptly deleted my account. 

Doing my 20 minute Facebook perusal I did see the appeal.  I found my ex boyfriend.  My ex best friend.  And then I remembered.  I hated high school.  Why exactly am I finding these people?  Aren't people ex's for a reason?  Do I really need to bring them back into my life?  Is there anyone I'm desperate enough to find?

It does sometimes feel like there is a huge party going on that everyone else is a part of that I am purposely not joining.  And I try not to think about how much my blog numbers would spike if I joined Facebook.  Because I'm not in it for the numbers.  Right?

Then again, I always said I would never join twitter and all it took was one DC Metro Moms party and I was hooked.  Then again, no one I know in real life is on twitter.  

It doesn't matter anyway.  I'm hiding, in plain sight, ON THE INTERNET.  It's only a matter of time. 

And Facebook is just a fad that is going to die soon.  At least that is what I tell myself.  And it's blocked at work.  So I'd have to do all my Facebooking at home, which is the last thing I need.  My child already believes Mommy comes with a laptop or iPhone surgically attached to her hip.  This would not help.

Comments

[Janna]

I have to say, my family members are starting to join Twitter and it stinks! It's my one refuge! They are already on Facebook and read my blog- so where do I go to complain about them? Thankfully they don't understand it so there's hope they will drop it.

[Fairly Odd Mother]

I joined FB and wish I hadn't in some ways. I don't feel free to just blather on and on like I do on Twitter. I actually wrote a post about FB vs. Twitter, and Twitter definitely won IMO.

[Dena Brown]

I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. I've loved connecting with some old college friends, but then there's the friends that I stopped talking to for a reason. And I just think it's legal stalking at this point... Especially when you find yourself looking at an Ex's page for hours a night and looking at every detail of his new pictures wondering if his new gf is better looking than you. Not fun!

[DBN]

I have two facebook accounts, one for myself and one for my internet self. That works for me. Same with twitter.

[Laura]

I agree with your comment that it's a party that you feel like you are not joining. It's sort of exploded over the past year or so for me, with everyone I've ever known joining (including my DAD-OMG). I enjoy it as a way to keep up with long lost friends and it feeds my very nosy nature. I worry about some friends who literally "live" on FB. I am glad it's blocked at work, although I do check periodically via my phone. I am the type that likes reunions so it's good for me. Plus, it's been fun to reconnect with old camp friends. I think until you are ready to go public with the blog, stay away but when you are ready, I think you will enjoy it.

[Kristie]

I am not a member of facebook and I don't twitter. I blog and that's it. I honestly don't have the time to keep up with any more than that.

[Alex Elliot]

I have two Facebook accounts as well to separate real life from blogging life. Actually someone left a great link about Facebook privacy settings on my blog. I'll have to look it up for you. Basically you put your friends into different networks and give them different "privileges" to see what's on your Facebook account. You could set it so that only certain networks could see your wall, your personal info like your blog, etc.

[mayberry]

I am right there with you -- not on Facebook and for the exact same reasons as you.

[restaurant refugee]

I don't have a personal FB account and only recently created one for my blog persona. Shockingly (to anyone on the planet FB except those who know me in real life) I hardly ever use the damn thing. Like you, I still talk to all of the high school, college, & grad school friends with whom I wish to correspond.

[DemMom]

I'm still holding out on Facebook, and Twitter. I can't add another timesuck to my life, and I can't imagine that anyone cares what I'm doing at every minute. I'm not that interesting or witty.

[Damselfly]

Haha! Most of the people I know on FB seem to think it's a big time suck.

[Karen MEG]

I joined FB forever ago when it first opened up beyond college kids... a mom from a mom's group (a young mom) invited me. It was great to arrange playgroups.

And then there was this huge FB explosion, high school friends found more friends, and so on....and my ex, the one with whom everything went wrong, found me despite my fairly transparent pseudonym and wanted to friend me...nightmare. I've had my blog listed there for a long time but it's a bit hidden, and have only started FB again because blog friends are there now too...but I still get a bit nervous.

Stay away if you can.

Twitter is my latest addiction, I'm late to the game. But yeah, my daughter is always screaming "get off the 'puter" while my son is laughing all the way through Runescape. Mother of the year, that's me:)

[hush]

Amen, sister! It feels so good to hear that someone else gets it. In the last 6 weeks, I've lost count of how many people have suddenly insisted I join. As if I needed another reason to procrastinate & navel-gaze!

[Stimey]

That's why I'm not on facebook: worlds colliding. I'm out to pretty much everyone except my kids' elementary school, but still...

[Corey J Feldman]

Facebook has a great iphone app. But I do agree it would quickly bring family and friends to you blog and twitter. Although I think that is going to happen one way or another sooner or later...

[harmzie]

(a little late to the party, sorry! But I knew I couldn't get my 2 cents into 140 characters! ;-))

I'm on FB. It was the first thing I did on "teh internets" (before blogging or twitter or even really reading other blogs). I was very particular about whom I friended. I had to *know* them AND would bother to see them in person, should the opportunity arise. I've since revised my criteria to include people that I would bother to *get* to know should the opportunity arise (to include some interesting bloggy people I've encountered)

My husband steadfastly refuses to join, but I don't really bug him (except that his HS friends try and relay messages through me). In a discussion with him on the subject recently, I made the observation that the people who LOVE FB (or twitter, for that matter) and the people who abhor it (them), do so for the exact same reason: the sheer irrelevance of it.

All that said, I'm quickly losing interest in Facebook.