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20 years old. No Facebook account. I 'deleted my life', and y'know what? Nothing changed. I still have the same friends I talked to before Facebook, still meet

20 years old. No Facebook account. I 'deleted my life', and y'know what? Nothing changed. I still have the same friends I talked to before Facebook, still meet up for drinks on their birthdays, still arrange nights out, and still share what's going on in my life. The best thing about no Facebook? I know what information is out there, and nothing personal that Advertising Inc. can buy.

1qaz2wsx3edc 14y ago
25, no facebook account for over 3 years. Life's better without!
- arjn 14y ago
  Amen!to that brother (or sister :)
- 404error 14y ago
  27, no facebook account...ever. For some reason I have never been able to make the time to use a social network.
DanielBMarkham 14y ago
You have a much easier story. I'm 47. Because of the network effect, using Facebook I've connected with people I knew and cared about that I haven't seen in 30 years. Dozens of them. I barely remembered person A and B, found them and became friends. Then they knew person C and D. E and F were close behind. Pretty soon I have 200 friends from places scattered all over the world. Life sneaks up on you, and people stop having the same phone, email, or street address. You wake up one day wondering what happened to Bob, then slowly realize that you'll never see him again. It's a weird feeling. Yes, if I were 20 and still had a cell phone with all my friends from 4 years ago, it'd be no big deal. But if I lost my FB data now? I'd never find these guys again. Personal sidebar ahead: by the way, my wife and I are having a competition to see who can get the most friends. As long as you're not selling anything, and I promise not to sell you anything, send me an invite! Right now she has 600 friends and I have something like 250. http://www.facebook.com/danielbmarkham http://www.facebook.com/danielbmarkham
- dhimes 14y ago
  $20 says your wife wins. :-)
- loopdoend 14y ago
  Either this is an attempt at irony, or you are what is wrong with Facebook.
  - short_circut 14y ago
    I fail to see how using facebook to reconnect with disconnected friends is what is wrong with facebook. As a tool that is exactly what it is for.
    - loopdoend 14y ago
      Did you not read the part about padding his friend list with strangers at the end there?
      - potatolicious 14y ago
        What's wrong with wanting to interact with strangers? We've built entire startups around that - Meetup, GrubWithUs, Couchsurfing, etc, all come to mind. God didn't come down and carve the Approved And Valid Contexts of Facebook Friending on a piece of rock.
        DanielBMarkham 14y ago
        It is very interesting (and scary) how many things that we kludged together on the net that the new generation are finding as "must haves"
    - ryguytilidie 14y ago
      Personal sidebar ahead: by the way, my wife and I are having a competition to see who can get the most friends. As long as you're not selling anything, and I promise not to sell you anything, send me an invite! Right now she has 600 friends and I have something like 250.
Swizec 14y ago
I'm 25. One of my friends uses Google+ instead of FB. It's really weird because the only way I can really get in contact with him is via the irc channel we all hang out on. I never get to see any of the photos he shares.
- tsycho 14y ago
  If you actually care about the photos that your friend is sharing on Google+, what's actually preventing you from seeing them? You don't even have to visit the G+ site, just set up email notifications if he/she shares anything with you. Let's look at an alternative scenario: What if your friend posted the photos online to Flickr, Shutterfly, Picasa etc. and sent you a link via email? Would you still complain? My point is not to evangelize Google+ here, I am using it only because you referred to it. My point is that the power that FB has over your online social life is entirely up to you, and you can choose to increase/decrease it at will.
  - Evbn 14y ago
    What if my friend posts on FB?
tlrobinson 14y ago
http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-man-constantly-mentioning-he-doesnt-own-a-tel,429/ http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-man-constantly-mention... s/television/facebook/
eertami 14y ago
21 and find that it would be hugely inconvenient to delete my Facebook account. But this isn't for the social aspect, I don't post status updates or photos or share personal information (not even my Birthday), however Facebook Groups are just so widely used that it's hard to stay in the loop for certain things without them.

1qaz2wsx3edc 14y ago

25, no facebook account for over 3 years. Life's better without!

arjn 14y ago
Amen!to that brother (or sister :)
404error 14y ago
27, no facebook account...ever. For some reason I have never been able to make the time to use a social network.

DanielBMarkham 14y ago

You have a much easier story. I'm 47. Because of the network effect, using Facebook I've connected with people I knew and cared about that I haven't seen in 30 years. Dozens of them. I barely remembered person A and B, found them and became friends. Then they knew person C and D. E and F were close behind. Pretty soon I have 200 friends from places scattered all over the world. Life sneaks up on you, and people stop having the same phone, email, or street address. You wake up one day wondering what happened to Bob, then slowly realize that you'll never see him again. It's a weird feeling. Yes, if I were 20 and still had a cell phone with all my friends from 4 years ago, it'd be no big deal. But if I lost my FB data now? I'd never find these guys again. Personal sidebar ahead: by the way, my wife and I are having a competition to see who can get the most friends. As long as you're not selling anything, and I promise not to sell you anything, send me an invite! Right now she has 600 friends and I have something like 250. http://www.facebook.com/danielbmarkham http://www.facebook.com/danielbmarkham

dhimes 14y ago
$20 says your wife wins. :-)
loopdoend 14y ago
Either this is an attempt at irony, or you are what is wrong with Facebook.
- short_circut 14y ago
  I fail to see how using facebook to reconnect with disconnected friends is what is wrong with facebook. As a tool that is exactly what it is for.
  - loopdoend 14y ago
    Did you not read the part about padding his friend list with strangers at the end there?
    - potatolicious 14y ago
      What's wrong with wanting to interact with strangers? We've built entire startups around that - Meetup, GrubWithUs, Couchsurfing, etc, all come to mind. God didn't come down and carve the Approved And Valid Contexts of Facebook Friending on a piece of rock.
      - DanielBMarkham 14y ago
        It is very interesting (and scary) how many things that we kludged together on the net that the new generation are finding as "must haves"
  - ryguytilidie 14y ago
    Personal sidebar ahead: by the way, my wife and I are having a competition to see who can get the most friends. As long as you're not selling anything, and I promise not to sell you anything, send me an invite! Right now she has 600 friends and I have something like 250.

Swizec 14y ago

I'm 25. One of my friends uses Google+ instead of FB. It's really weird because the only way I can really get in contact with him is via the irc channel we all hang out on. I never get to see any of the photos he shares.

tsycho 14y ago
If you actually care about the photos that your friend is sharing on Google+, what's actually preventing you from seeing them? You don't even have to visit the G+ site, just set up email notifications if he/she shares anything with you. Let's look at an alternative scenario: What if your friend posted the photos online to Flickr, Shutterfly, Picasa etc. and sent you a link via email? Would you still complain? My point is not to evangelize Google+ here, I am using it only because you referred to it. My point is that the power that FB has over your online social life is entirely up to you, and you can choose to increase/decrease it at will.
- Evbn 14y ago
  What if my friend posts on FB?

tlrobinson 14y ago

http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-man-constantly-mentioning-he-doesnt-own-a-tel,429/ http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-man-constantly-mention... s/television/facebook/

eertami 14y ago

21 and find that it would be hugely inconvenient to delete my Facebook account. But this isn't for the social aspect, I don't post status updates or photos or share personal information (not even my Birthday), however Facebook Groups are just so widely used that it's hard to stay in the loop for certain things without them.