Is it wrong not to have a Facebook profile? Is it wrong to resist the popular movement of social networking?
I recently had an invigorating conversation, as I always do, with a very close friend who lives far away. Our conversations are far between since our school days yet we manage to connect on issues past and present with ease.
He asked if I had a Facebook profile to which I answered no, then provided a list of my reasons why. Among them, that Facebook will eventually be replaced by something else, another trendy social networking format that everyone will gravitate toward, then forget. (Didn’t that happen to myspace?) My friend said: If something replaces Facebook then that means it’s good. That means progress.
Later in the conversation my friend told me about his recent trip to China. If I was on Facebook, he said, I would have known about his trip. I reminded him that he can always send an e-mail or we can talk on the phone. I also reminded him that I’m very “pen and paper” (a description I’ve been using of late to describe my rudimentary understanding of things tech) to which he reminded me that I turned 32, not 82.
Point taken. Yet I’m still not compelled to join Facebook. Friendships, I believe, should be like the kind I have with my friend in the first place. The one’s that time and distance cannot tamper. I’m happy with learning about things after they happen and from the person. (Plus, my friend told me about a mutual enemy from our past who recently tried to friend him on Facebook. He quashed the request and I told him that is exactly why I don’t want to be on the site).
With all modes of technological communication, I’ll eventually adopt. I took to e-mail late, got a mobile well after everybody had them, and here I am blogging for no apparent reason.
I’ll get to Facebook one of these days. Maybe after it’s long gone.