Well. Over the past few months I have been asked several times: "Are you on Facebook?" My reply is : "no... "
The fact that more and more people ask me about my presence on Facebook, as if it is a given that I should have a presence on Facebook has made me think or evaluate as to why I am not on Facebook.
The reason for not being on Facebook is not my laziness, neither is it an anti-corporate boycott ( like it is in the case of Wal-mart). I guess part of the reason for not getting on "Facebook" is based on my 4 month ( approximate) flirtation with Orkut---another soical networking website back in 2004. I remember finding Orkut fascinating as I was able to instantly connect to several of my high school ( or primary school..) classmates ..with whom I had been out of touch for an extended period of time. In addition, I was able to connect to local freinds too. PLus I was able to familiarize myself with newer friends by looking at their, social circle and the groups they were signed up to on the social networking site ( i.e. Orkut). Given the above benefits, I loved logging on to Orkut and was fascinated by it.
However sooner then I could realize what I was doing, the reality of Orkut-addiction donned upon me. I was spending many hours exchanging messages and connecting with people far away, while I let higher-priority tasks slip away in my real (non-cyber world) life. Moreover, I was addicted to browsing people's profiles to see what they were upto, which also had no tangible positive impact on my daily reality. The positive impacts that I was achieving through orkut could also be achieved though email which was less time consuming than orkut. These factors made me reconsider my position on Orkut and eventually led to the deletion of my Orkut account soon thereafter.
I guess Facebook is similar in some ways to Orkut though I have been told that it is better in the sense that it allows you to choose people who can view your profile, etc , etc. In other words you control the privacy of your profile. Nevertheless my expireince with Orkut has
made me vary of such a site. And i do not wish to test the utility of Facebook given the risk of addiction that lingers with such tests.
Anyhow, I am not "against" Facebook per say. I am "for" a cautious approach when dealing with Facebook.
After all it is a tool and if you know how to control and use it properly thenthere is nothing wrong with it. Howver if the tool controls your life then you know it is not a tool anymore, it is a
monstor!!
The fact that more and more people ask me about my presence on Facebook, as if it is a given that I should have a presence on Facebook has made me think or evaluate as to why I am not on Facebook.
The reason for not being on Facebook is not my laziness, neither is it an anti-corporate boycott ( like it is in the case of Wal-mart). I guess part of the reason for not getting on "Facebook" is based on my 4 month ( approximate) flirtation with Orkut---another soical networking website back in 2004. I remember finding Orkut fascinating as I was able to instantly connect to several of my high school ( or primary school..) classmates ..with whom I had been out of touch for an extended period of time. In addition, I was able to connect to local freinds too. PLus I was able to familiarize myself with newer friends by looking at their, social circle and the groups they were signed up to on the social networking site ( i.e. Orkut). Given the above benefits, I loved logging on to Orkut and was fascinated by it.
However sooner then I could realize what I was doing, the reality of Orkut-addiction donned upon me. I was spending many hours exchanging messages and connecting with people far away, while I let higher-priority tasks slip away in my real (non-cyber world) life. Moreover, I was addicted to browsing people's profiles to see what they were upto, which also had no tangible positive impact on my daily reality. The positive impacts that I was achieving through orkut could also be achieved though email which was less time consuming than orkut. These factors made me reconsider my position on Orkut and eventually led to the deletion of my Orkut account soon thereafter.
I guess Facebook is similar in some ways to Orkut though I have been told that it is better in the sense that it allows you to choose people who can view your profile, etc , etc. In other words you control the privacy of your profile. Nevertheless my expireince with Orkut has
made me vary of such a site. And i do not wish to test the utility of Facebook given the risk of addiction that lingers with such tests.
Anyhow, I am not "against" Facebook per say. I am "for" a cautious approach when dealing with Facebook.
After all it is a tool and if you know how to control and use it properly thenthere is nothing wrong with it. Howver if the tool controls your life then you know it is not a tool anymore, it is a
monstor!!
11 comments:
"After all it is a tool and if you know how to control and use it properly thenthere is nothing wrong with it."
mm tools always reminds me of that Ani DiFranco quote: "Every tool is a weapon if you hold it right"
I had facebook for a week, and then like you, I realized I was addicted (not good for a full-time student) lol, and then I proceeded to delete my account :D
Goooo account deleters :)
Hope all is well with you in the roti-realm :P
salam.
i, for one, have been blessed with genuine 'positives' from my orkut experience :) like they say, different strokes for different folks.
has your blogging experience (with the possibility of blogger network addiction) been very different? i can immediately see the different features that each forum (orkut vs. blogging) highlights. yet, to my mind, they essentially serve the same purpose.
keep up the blogging :D
Raneem,
the rotees are in short supply. looking for a long term supplier. Parents are helping.
Khany.
Blogging in one way can be similar to Orkut. (i.e. if you comment on people's blogs and then they comment on yours, etc, etc).
However that has rarely happened in my 2 years of blogging. Perhaps that is because my blog is primarily an issue based blog, therefore the interactions are in most cases impersonal, even with people whom I know. The other major difference with Orkut or similar sites is that people dont need to register on blogger to read my posts. Anybody can read them as long as they have internet and know how to use it.
salaam alaykum,
I totally agree with the point of spending more time on the "net" responding or chasing up issues or people than actually keeping active and progressive ties with "real" people in the "real" world as appose to the "cyber-world".
It is a tool that has a double edge, if one is not clear about the reason why he/she is using face-book or others like it, they are perhaps as suggested more likely to be somewhat addicted hence neglecting other more importnant aspects of their daily lives in the real world.
Allah knows best.
wa salaam
rifat
Myspace sold for $580 million
Facebook is apparently worth more than $1 billion...
theres a lot of money in this business..
Interesting. For some reason since so many bloggers are on Facebook I typed in your name in the search engine and didn't find you.
I used to have more of a Facebook addiction when I started, but it's waned a lot more now. Except I think Facebook is trying to encourage an addiction by adding Feeds which tell you what changed in your friends profiles and then adding applications like Games and such..
hm. I once was on facebook, and then deleted my account, and then re-activated it :$ .. well, i had to. i had to email a friend...and didn't have her email address, but i knew for sure she was on friend's list on facebook.
now that i'm back on there....i've decided to use it for a noble cause - connecting with kids. You see, kids think it's geeky to respond to emails, but responding to facebook messages is "COOL". I'm connecting with these kids trying to be their mentor.
let's see how long it lasts :)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6236628.stm
another one
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6639417.stm
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