I am old fashioned. Not as much as some people (you know who you are) but still wanting some things in a more established way.
I liked the idea of the facebook when I first joined the site in Fall 2004. It was only for people who attended prestigus universities. Then it became open to anyone who attended a four year college, then anyone who was attending a college, then some companies had their own networks, then high schools were included (though we were told it was kept separate from the rest of facebook), then anyone could join.
Maybe I am being elitist, but if I wanted to join an online social network where anyone could join and waste their life away I would have joined MySpace.
As a response to these changes, I have kept my profile as secret as possible to the world. Unless you are a friend of one of my friends or in my network (I am only in the Berkeley one), a search will not even acknowledge my profile exists. For the past few years, I have not sought out any facebook friends I did not met through school or people I know from school activities.
As a result, I am not friends with anyone I am related to, except my second cousin who I added freshman year. She was my only relative at the time on facebook because she went to Notre Dame. My Mom, Dad, Brother, and all eight of my cousins have since created accounts, but I have not added any of them. Also, no one I have met near home in the past year has been added as a friend.
There is no good reason for my behavior except inertia and persistence in my habits. There is nothing for me to fear; worlds will not collide and result in massive destruction if I add a few friends and relatives. Even if I let myself get caught up in how popular I look compared to my cousins, I have hundreds of facebook friends and pictures of me tagged. Anyone new who sees my profile will learn more about me and be wowed I know so many people.
When I am ready I will add my family and recent friends. Even then, I will keep my profile nearly impossible to find.
The only thing I want to do before adding all these friends is get a new profile picture. My current one is almost two years old.
No comments:
Post a Comment