Deactivate Facebook.

To inform all my friends on Facebook and anyone else who cares, I am going to deactivate my Facebook account very soon. If you need to get a hold of me, you can email me, write me, call me, comment on my blog, or--best of all--talk to me in person. Before I bring my Facebook tenure to a close, I will log everyone's contact information and birthdays into an Excel spreadsheet to create a contact list of sorts.

To answer the inevitable question, here are the reasons why I am abandoning Facebook (but not abandoning my friends):

1. Too popular--when things get trendy, I get out.
2. Superficiality--people don't have to be real on FB (it's so popular, it gets its own abbreviation); they can present whatever they want about themselves and edit their responses
3. Cowardice--FB is too often an excuse for someone to act like a coward. If someone doesn't have the nerve to talk to someone face to face, what does he do? He sends a FB message. In particular, I am thinking of those young men--and they are probably nice guys--who don't have the guts to talk to a girl of interest and proceed to ask her out via FB. Bad move! Trust me, guys, ladies would rather you talk to them in person about that one. I could elaborate, but I will sustain.
4. Lower-quality relationships--it is true that relationships on Facebook are real, though cyber; however, these relationships can never compare to person-to-person interaction--hearing someone's tone, seeing someone's facial expressions and body language, touching, and sharing material possesions. It is impersonal and much too convenient. (If you weren't on FB, how many people would tell you "happy birthday"? If people really care about your birthday, they'll congratulate you by other means, which I know requires more effort.) It is also illogical: Why would we want to decline to a lower quality of life with our friends? If people want relationships, shouldn't they strive for the best, namely, flesh and blood?
5. Bulding from reason #3, most of my FB friends are not actually my friends at all; they are my acquaintances, most of whom I rarely, if ever, speak to in person or online. Why would we want to deceive ourselves into thinking that we have a ton of friends when really we don't know them that well at all? How could anyone have 230 close friends?
6. It's a distraction and, thus, a waste of time. Think of how easy it is just to say to yourself, "I'll only be on there for a minute" and then end up being on there for a good hour or so. Really, we could do so much better with an hour than that. Not having FB around means I don't have to discipline myself about it.
7. Fewer emails--I will no longer have a list of emails to delete almost every time I check my inbox. (I understand that one can alter the settings for FB email notifications, but I used the emails as a way to know when to get on FB. Sometimes, even when I get an email from FB, I don't access my FB account.)
8. Facebook "society"--I am partially antisocial. I generally get along with everyone, whether by enjoyinng them or tolerating them, but--this may sound mean--there are some people at MBU who haven't matured yet. I don't like being around them on campus or online. Part of it is just my personality. People after a while drain me instead of energize me. I am an introvert, not an extravert.

My recent experience of FB hacking has further encouraged me to deactivate my acccount. Oh, the thought of being "disconnected from the world" is liberating! I like things simplified, and this is one step in that direction. Will anyone join me?