Stupid Facebook

Amid all the controversy over the privacy settings and the whole Facebook issue that has been coming up lately, I can't say that I'm all that surprised. Don’t look at me like that, I mean, just because I passed on jumping on the social networking bandwagon a long time ago doesn't mean that I don't know what's going on and don’t have an opinion. Shesh. Haha. But seriously people, in terms of those stupid privacy settings, do you really think that anything you put on the web is private anyway? If so, you're retarded and deserve to have your privacy violated. C'mon now. Let’s all just be smart about this.

Now, of course, you guys know that I’ve never been a big proponent of Facebook (or any of the other social networking sites for that matter). I mean, I always thought it was super cool when I met someone who had the same distaste for all that nonsense as well. And believe me, there are more people than you think who turn their backs on social networking sites. It was an instant bonding tool that seemed to serve me well in making good connections…Haha. Go figure, right? Anyway, at some point in time, I have been asked, encouraged, and ordered to join various social websites (i.e. friendster, myspace, linkedin, facebook, etc.) and for those of you who know me at all…would know that I strongly reject, and would fight to the death, before joining any of them (well unless ordered to for work, I guess is my only exception). I was asked to give my reasons ...so I listed the top three below (although most of you know these by now):

1. Personal Website - I have a website. It serves my needs perfectly well. It houses my pictures and my blog. What more can I ask for? I have a domain to call home and see no other reason to slave away at another site. I mean, my site lasted through Friendster, MySpace...and whose to say how long Facebook will last...and I don’t worry about anything else. People know where I am and how to reach me.

2. Artificial Connections – The biggest thing that I hate about all those sites, is the stupid “friend” aspect. There is no need to create the illusion of artificial friendships. Let’s be honest, about this right up front. I hate the artificial "friend" tag. Absolutely hate it. I am not going to put some of my best friends in the same category as the acquaintances I would only interact with and spy on on Facebook. I am confident in who my friends are. I don't need to use Facebook to interact with them, cyber stalk them to know what they're up to and post random artificial crap on me just so they can feel like they know me. It's garbage and I refuse to partake in it.

3. Contact – If people want to contact me...they know exactly how to reach me (and vice versa for that matter). I will look up people I want to contact, contact who I want to and maintain connections that I deem fit. Otherwise…fuck it. There’s no reason to use Facebook for those means. And if, for some reason, Facebook is the only means that people can use to connect…that’s just really sad, in my opinion. And let’s be honest, there are just some people who I have no interest in contacting ever again. So if people didn't have my contact information before Facebook...well there was a reason for that...and I don't see that reason changing anytime soon. Haha. Hey, I’m just being honest.

So hopefully this will be the last time that I ever have to talk about this. I’ve never been a fan of those social networking sites and I don’t foresee that changing anytime soon. Who needs Facebook anyway? Psh. Not me.