Of course I no longer know when one of my ‘friends’ is about to go to bed, ready for a holiday, etc. but that is something I’ll have to learn to deal with…

Simon Harrison’s last blog post..Why you should learn Colemak

In my group of friends only myself and one other remain unregistered, and if anything I am more resolved now than ever before to keep it that way.

Usually when I tell people I choose not to have a Facebook account, I’m faced with a confused frown resembling a look of total uncomprehension. This is followed by something like:

“But it’s so useful, it’s so easy to arrange to meet up and stuff…”

And then maybe a little honesty:

“…also, you don’t want to be left out!”

I’ve seen encounters between supposed friends who have met unexpectedly, only to awkwardly exchange brief greetings and quickly part ways with a token “…I’ll talk to you on Facebook.” If they genuinely wanted to talk to one another, they would have, there and then, but the truth is that, for one reason or another, they don’t want to. They are nothing more to each other than points on their Facebook Friend List.

I see Facebook (and the others) as the modern equivalent of the answerphone; it’s a device to let people feel like they have friends, but they don’t actually have to interact with them if they don’t want to. It makes socialising so much more comfortable; you don’t have to be actively involved, it saves having to engage in intelligent conversation, and allows people to avoid tiring themselves out through being witty.

I really like how this post compliments mine that you linked to. You add a perspective that I couldn’t, and I enjoyed reading it!

I choose to be on Facebook, but don’t really like it… and, like you, I hate Plurk… so I’ll see you on Twitter:-)

Dave.