Breaking up

I'm breaking up with facebook. Well, we are breaking up with facebook.

As a tool, facebook is quite useful. Being connected with friends and acquaintances via facebook allows interaction with people that one might not usually have day-to-day or in person. It expands the circle of relationships. Also, I enjoyed the facebook groups and pages of blogs that I followed. Or businesses that I supported. It was an easy place to collect all those resources for access, when needed.

On the other hand, facebook is also kind of creepy. I don't mean that I feel creeped out by facebook, but facebook allows me to be a creeper. This whole facebook stalking thing is just not a healthy way to get to know people. Looking through a stranger's photos can tell me a wealth of information about that person e.g. their hobbies, their interests, their occupation, their habits, their beliefs, their age, their family, their home, birthdates, anniversaries, etc. etc. I find myself sometimes addicted to browsing through acquaintances' or strangers' facebook profiles. Let's not go into the amount of time wasted as I routinely scour my newsfeed for interesting tidbits of information from people I keep up to date with (via facebook, of course - never in person....?!) Just. Not. Healthy.

I've come to a place where I've realized that drastic measures have to be taken to maintain a healthy condition of relationships and better stewardship of using time and the internet. This is not a judgement on those who continue to use facebook, of course! I am not disciplined and self-controlled enough to use facebook. That's all.

Now I just wish that facebook didn't store all my past content (i.e. photos) on their servers as their property. Just another reason why we will be going live with our own family website.

If for some reason you'd like to continue an online friendship with me, you can check out my twitter feed (username: shiosha) or continue to read this blog of ours.