Facebook and easy addiction
Sat 2nd Jan 2010
I actually know people who aren’t on Facebook. I know that is hard to believe but they are out there… 
Some choose to ignore it, some dislike it, some are not technically minded, however unless living under a rock, most have heard of it!
I am sure that most of them think that Facebook is about telling people what you had for lunch. Well, sometimes that’s exactly what it is. And the problem with that is? I mean, if I meet my mate for a pint at the local, I might talk to them about the latest job I’ve done, or about my wonderful network provider, my issue with foreign call centres or…what I had for lunch.
Some of my non-user friends prefer to call Facebook “mindless”. That’s actually not a bad thing either, sometimes it’s nice to relax and read trash. Some days my friends on Facebook depart from their role as uptight intellectuals and are all affect. Public feelings, as I call them, can be particularly powerful, precisely because they are directed not at any one observer but somewhere indefinitely “public” and that means you can catch them or not. (”It’s not about me.” Or, “This is so about me!” I like the dabbling, darting nature of address on Facebook. It’s only a direct hit if I want it to be.)
I also go on Facebook because I have a community there whose politics I may not always agree with but who can be counted upon to be suitably disagreeable when something unconscionable happens, some prefer to share and comment on my posts, some ignore, but all read! They can be passionate, opinionated and irrepressible. I love that. Intemperate, even, it’s still an emotional response. If I’m disgusted with something whiny I’m reading on the internet or featuring in the news, well, I know someone will have a comment about it on Facebook. Even better, if I can’t bear to tune in to conventional news, I know on Facebook I will have a remarkably interesting slice through the day’s events, whatever those may be, and from a slant just slanted enough to be worth my time.
If it isn’t worth my time, something else is one click away. Facebook doesn’t come to me, I go to it. And that means I can leave, thank you, without any rudeness or guilt. There is no requirement to update, link, comment, or even like. I can peruse and stalk or participate away (I’m opinionated, what can I say?