I have this relative who is on and off facebook like it’s a bucking bronco or something. One morning he’s on, by high noon he’s off, deactivated, gone. Next day he’s back, “Hey folks! Missed me?” It’s gotten to the point where I just smile and shake my head when I see the friend request from him every other day or so. I don’t ask him about his state of mind anymore; I just assume his way of demonstrating his ambivalence towards facebook is just a little more impulsive than others.
I hardly ever visit facebook. It took me a while to get on it; and once I did I was excited about seeing people I hadn’t seen in years. But the initial thrill at seeing what they look like and comparing with how I look was soon over, and I had no real interest left in facebook. Then I decided to use it to post tidbits from my blog and other blogs of interest, but other than a few of my students, no one else seemed interested in reading about politics and books. I still have my facebook page up--not quite at the stage where I can quit completely like Tillahwillah here—but, boy do I understand her relief at having shut out the noise.
See I have this silly desire not to offend unnecessarily. It’s this niggling “nice girl” nonsense I can’t seem to shake, even when I should. For me, since I’ve chosen to be part of the social networking thing, then I have to play the part of the social networker, even if it means putting up with some of the nuisances. We do it at work, at home, at family gatherings, why not on facebook where at least we have the choice to log on every day or not? So I’m still there, just not frequently.
On Twitter, on the other hand, I can deal appropriately with annoyances. Since I don’t actually know most of the people I follow, I can quickly and efficiently unfollow them. I follow one or two babbling brooks whose incessant prattling take up so much room I can’t see the updates from the people I actually want to hear from. I’m fixing to deal with them as soon as I’m done here. I’ve done it before. I got so mad one day, I just had to unfollow a few folk. Some of them promptly unfollowed me in return. No problem with that. Fair is fair. But why do I still feel I was unnecessarily rude?
And what about blogging? Is blogging a cut above the rest? Does blogging allow the ultra sensitive (as some of us are) freedom from the occasional or constant annoyances associated with social networking? (I have included blogging in the category “social networking” since I happen to think it’s not just a form of media, but also a social avenue for meeting and networking, whether or not it preceded the latter.)
Key thing (for me) that separates blogs from the other forms of social networking: as a blogger I can choose with whom to network. Blogging, more than any of the other social networking avenues, grants me the freedom without the fear of being rude or of appearing schizophrenic, to link and form/join friends and networks I actually fully want to be a part of. Plus, I have waaay more space to write. Mmmmm...feel the quiet in this solitary space! What more could a narcissistic, neurotic want?
(On second thoughts I’m gonna keep following the Twitter prattlers. I think I’ve vented enough here...chalk up another one for blogging.)
