People without Facebook Accounts are Viewed as 'Suspicious'
According to a recent write-up in Forbes, not having a Facebook account can make you seem suspicious. As the blog details, quitting Facebook, or foregoing it altogether, can lead to suspicions about your character in both your personal and your professional life.
While the story is based on a preponderance of anecdotal evidence, since hard data on the subject simply does not exist, I still find it very disheartening.
I know that Facebook-bashing has become the cool thing to do these days, what with its share price getting hammered on a weekly basis, but lately I've legitimately found myself growing sick of Facebook. And I'm sure I'm not alone.
As I see it, there are only three things keeping me on Facebook, with each of them slowly losing their importance...
- Photos
- Keeping up with distant friends and acquaintances
- Birthday Reminders
Let's tackle each of these reasons, one at a time.
Photos: This is more of a laziness on my part. I almost never take photos of any meaning. I have one album on Facebook from one trip I went on. That's it. Otherwise, every photo on there is from a friend or an event where I happened to get tagged. I suppose my fear is that, without Facebook, I'd simply never take or keep any photos.
The counter-point is that I'd be forced to take photos, and that the photos I'd take would be more meaningful, if I didn't have the book to do it for me. However, if anyone ever opened up my iPhone and looked at my photos, they'd find that about half of them are of my girlfriend's cat, so I'm not overly convinced I'd do much else. Still, Facebook isn't the only way to hold onto photos.
Keeping up with distant friends and acquaintances: For a while, this was the biggest thing that kept me going back. Up until about a year ago or so when I realized, quite simply, that I just didn't care to hear what so many random people had to say. It was a bunch of noise and non-sense from people who, quite frankly, I wouldn't even necessarily go out of my way to say hello to if I saw them on the street. So, I purged my friend list. Recently, I've been thinking it might make sense to do it again.
As I see it, there are maybe three or four people that I am friends with on Facebook who I'd have trouble keeping up with otherwise, and one of them is a Marine who is rarely in one place for an extended stretch of time. I honestly sometimes wonder if Facebook makes me, and others, lazier about keeping up with people. When I should call or email someone, I might just write on their wall. On some level, I think doing that cheapens our inter-personal relationships. Not to mention, I imagine there is an entire generation of people 10 years younger than me who are absolutely incapable of having a serious phone conversation.
Birthday Reminders: I actually think this might be Facebook's best feature. I simply don't need to remember everyone's birthdays because it does it for me. And the best part is that I didn't even need to ask anyone or write anything down.
Maybe this should've been my number one reason for keeping it.
Anyway. Forbes' article really struck a chord with me because I think the idea that one would be considered 'suspicious' for not having a Facebook account is insane and an attack on basic human dignity. At its core, Facebook is a time suck. A black hole where people pass minutes and hours by reading frivolous updates and check-ins. Compulsively going back to see if any updates took place since they last checked two minutes ago.
Go anywhere. Go to a park. Go wait in line for coffee. You'll almost certainly see someone checking Facebook on their phone. Are we really that incapable of spending time without distraction? Do we really need to fill our minds with noise so frequently?
I'm not trying to come off as a luddite, but, more and more, I fail to see the use for Facebook other than as a time waster. And, frankly, there are way better ways to waste one's time than reading over status updates from the extraneous people in one's life. I'll take Reddit over Facebook 10 times out of 10 if I've truly got nothing else to do.
Further, in addition to providing a minimal social benefit at best, it provides virtually no professional benefit. If anything, it can harm you professionally depending on what's in your profile and photo collection. If I'm looking for a professional social network, I'll log in to my LinkedIn account where I never purge connections and am very open about my status and skill set. In fact, I've had multiple potential job opportunities come my way thanks to LinkedIn and have signed up for a paid account on several occasions and found it to be legitimately helpful.
I know this isn't anything particularly new or groundbreaking, but as I talk to friends I find that I'm definitely not alone.
Have any WSO monkeys cut their chains and left Facebook? If so, how'd you find it? What drove you to do it, or, what might drive you to do it? Lastly, what might stop you from leaving it?






Comments
I haven't, yet. The only
I haven't, yet.
The only reason I use it is it's easiest for me to keep in touch with friends. When they stop using it, I'll stop using it. I've noticed more and more people are using it less and less. I might drop out sometime soon.
Also, fuck that suspicious bullshit. If someone gives you that feeling in an interview, call them out on it:
-"Why would I keep using a dying service?"
-"Why would I want to have my entire life online? It's just asking for your identity to be stolen."
-"I'm not in college, people still use that?"
etc etc
"WSO is like the 300 for anti spamage. None shall pass." -happypantsmcgee
"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer
cut my chains from
cut my chains from facebook!?? what the hell am i supposed to do at work?
Money Never Sleeps? More like Money Never SUCKS amirite?!?!?!?
i havent deleted it yet but i
i havent deleted it yet but i hardly use it anymore after 95% of my news feed was
"LIKE DIS PIC IF JESUS DIED 4 U IF U DONT LIKE THIS, YOU WILL GO TO HELL"
and other things equally as stupid
I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.
Deactivated my account for a
Deactivated my account for a week initially, to see the effect it would have on me. It's been 6 months...don't miss it at all. Talk to close friends more often and filtered out all the noise. If someone from my past really wants to track me down they can use LinkedIn.
Literally only use FB to look
Literally only use FB to look up someone I might know (aka hot girl).. and then check out the photos. Besides that it's a waste of time. In my opinion, people who constantly update their status with random bs need to get a life.
Speaking of FB. Any thoughts
Speaking of FB.
Any thoughts on this, anyone?
http://seekingalpha.com/article/787981-coming-delu...
"Every man should lose a battle in his youth, so he does not lose a war when he is old"
I stopped using my facebook
I stopped using my facebook in 2009. I was big into it during my college years when facebook was fresh. In college it was a great tool to use for hosting parties or getting notes from someone in your class that you didn't know too well. Once I graduated into the real world it lost its relevance. I keep it up there so employers don't think I am weird or have anything to hide. I knew it would come to this eventually. ONE OF US - ONE OF US - ONE OF US - ONE OF US.
The article is funny though. There are roughly 6.5 billion people on earth, roughly 900 million or so are on facebook (including fake accounts, accounts for your family pet, duplicates etc.) I guess this means that the world is teaming with psychos. WATCH YOUR BACKS!!!!!
I'd love to have a time machine and ask a psychiatrist from the 1990s their opinion on this. "Doctor, if an individual were to update, in real time, the entire planets population with their: personal photos, age, real time location, education history, list of people they know, thoughts going through their heads and a picture of who they are currently fucking, would you classify this kind of behavior as healthy?"
Status updates are
Status updates are ridiculous. I'm sure my friends can live without knowing that I will be at this location at 5pm shown by Google maps with these random people I tagged and that I had an amazing falafel at this location on my there with these other random people I tagged.
Quit Facebook in March 2011,
Quit Facebook in March 2011, havn't looked back or missed a second of it. If I want to catch up with friends I will email / text them. I use iPhoto to store all my pictures and my own Calendar app to keep track of birthdays I care about. As far as I'm concerned Facebook is a giant timesink and, when you think about it, actually kinda creepy.
See my other WSO blog posts>
Good for you guys. Honestly
Good for you guys. Honestly if you can't figure out how to balance social media in your life then it clearly isn't for you.
HEY GUISE I USE FACEBOOK
HEY GUISE I USE FACEBOOK PRIMARY FOR KEEPING UP WITH BIRTHDAYS
lol.
I haven't completely quit.
I haven't completely quit. Photos are still too important to me, as I'm constantly trawling for good shots of my dance events (my photographer friends don't maintain actual website portfolios, sigh). And from time to time, I'll toss out open-ended questions (e.g. "Give me recommendations for a good keyboard"). Aside from that, though, Facebook is a waste of time. I have an extension on Chrome that blocks the site except for 9:00-9:15pm every day.
"Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself."
Currently: quantitative marketing/business development
Previously: management consulting, investment banking
Count me as suspicious, I
Count me as suspicious, I have never used it. Why on Earth would I want to hear from people that I have been specifically avoiding for the last 15 years? If we're friends, you know how to find me. If I haven't spoken to you in 15 years, well, that's not an accident or omission.
Turbo leverage for capital explosion -- BD Capital
My WSO Blog
Boy great info all around. I
Boy great info all around. I love getting these insights into the lives of people I will never meet.
Everyone here knows my
Everyone here knows my position on this, so all I'm gonna say is, hipster that I am, that I hated Facebook before it was cool... and now that you all hate it, I LOVE FACEBOOK
I hate victims who respect their executioners
Follow BH & Co. on Twitter: @DumbLuckCapital
twitter.com/DumbLuckCapital
chicandtoughness: I have an
Edmundo
"Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself."
Currently: quantitative marketing/business development
Previously: management consulting, investment banking
Edmundo
Check out my WSO Blog
I stopped using facebook a
How about instead of writing
I've actually been dying to
TheKing: Edmundo
"Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself."
Currently: quantitative marketing/business development
Previously: management consulting, investment banking
quit Facebook in 09', but
Baby you're the perfect shape, baby you're the perfect weight. Treat me like my birthday, I want it this way and I want it that way. It makes a man feel good baby.
deleted it a while ago... All
Good post. I deleted my FB
I also quit facebook last
That's absolutely pathetic.
i dunno... let me play the
Money Never Sleeps? More like Money Never SUCKS amirite?!?!?!?
Edmundo
You do know its possible not
SirTradesaLot: Count me as
Money Never Sleeps? More like Money Never SUCKS amirite?!?!?!?
Bondarb: I also quit facebook
I hate victims who respect their executioners
Follow BH & Co. on Twitter: @DumbLuckCapital
twitter.com/DumbLuckCapital
Not many of the guys I know
For all those who say they
BlackHat: Quit about a
Money Never Sleeps? More like Money Never SUCKS amirite?!?!?!?
Philofinancier: For all those
Turbo leverage for capital explosion -- BD Capital
My WSO Blog
Twitter is definitely the
i quit facebook the day i
pick em, lick em, stick em
I don't think I've missed out
couldn't let go of my pair of aces...
I've kept mine because it's
Brady4MVP: I stopped using
"Know what to do, know how to do it, and do it hard." - Juan Castillo
If you are in the Toronto Area join my group "Toronto Prospective Monkeys"
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/group/toronto-prosp...
Hi, my name is
GBS
I don't know what you guys
Put up a decent /
damn, this is gonna make me
I haven't had facebook for
I'm willing to bet that a
"I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."
Is not having a Facebook
My name is Nicky, but you can call me Dre.
The Facebook camera that can