I logged out of Facebook today for the last time -- I am off the "lay my life bare" phenomenon. Some people may gasp and consider this brash in the world of today which is all about being connected and others may feel my white hair are getting to my brains.
Let me clarify this is not a symbolic gesture or a launch against Social N/w in any manner. I simply didnt feel it was adding in any utility to my life and in fact it was getting a bit irritating. Here is an example - One of my friends recently commented that he intends to come back to India after 10 years in USA. Great!!! By the way this "Friend" is someone i havent spoken to in those 10 years and not because international calls were costly. Anyway good to know via Facebook that he is back, but then the continuous messages of all comments posted to this message were on my facebook from people i dont know!!!
When i open my Facebook page I have peoples horoscopes and photo's of completely unrelated people whom someone from my friend list may have commented. I also have zillion update on what stage and heroics my friends have completed in Mafia wars and Farmville -- though most of them would give a thousand reasons for not going for a drive to the countryside on a weekend ;-)
But the most imp reason for switching off was UTILITY. We all lead a busy life in real world and several new web tools have made life interesting. There are RSS feed readers which makes keeping track of news easier, various Firefox widgets which make browsing/ blogging easier but what has been the benefit of Facebook to me in the past 1 year?
Reconnecting with old friends - well yes i did find some of my old school colleagues on Facebook - we said hi, how are u ?, exchanged nos. but thats it -- after that its back to Mafia wars and horoscope updates.
Making New Friends - The supposed utility of meeting new people and supporting new groups again didnt work for me and i think there are enough opportunities in real life to meet people.... not choosing who "seems" interesting based on "profile" but simply interacting and let the chemistry decide if u click. Anyways u never know if the Profile is what it says and people who would consider acquaintances on internet as "Friends" are unlikely to be my type anyways - Friendship is much more than being neighbors in Farmville.
Being part of groups - Havent been much successful here --more sucessful going to Mocha Cafe and be a part of the film club or joining a trekking group , going paragliding.
Being in touch with distant friends economically - Well with the international call rates being what they are i guess the monthly Broadband connection costs more than making an occassional call to the distant friends and then there is always Skype, Gchat etc -- well if u really want to be in tocuh that is.
Great games -- Duh!!!
The only utility i see is to stay in touch with my Fans -- that is if i were SRK and people would actually pay me to write blogs so that ad revenue monetization can happen (comeon u dont beleive that Celebrities actually write on blog themselves do u?)
So in this year of the Tiger (in Chinese new year) i take this leap to touch base with the real world and bid adieu to the virtual one atleast for some time till a great app comes along.
Gong Hei Fat Choi
(Happy new year in Cantonese)
Let me clarify this is not a symbolic gesture or a launch against Social N/w in any manner. I simply didnt feel it was adding in any utility to my life and in fact it was getting a bit irritating. Here is an example - One of my friends recently commented that he intends to come back to India after 10 years in USA. Great!!! By the way this "Friend" is someone i havent spoken to in those 10 years and not because international calls were costly. Anyway good to know via Facebook that he is back, but then the continuous messages of all comments posted to this message were on my facebook from people i dont know!!!
When i open my Facebook page I have peoples horoscopes and photo's of completely unrelated people whom someone from my friend list may have commented. I also have zillion update on what stage and heroics my friends have completed in Mafia wars and Farmville -- though most of them would give a thousand reasons for not going for a drive to the countryside on a weekend ;-)
But the most imp reason for switching off was UTILITY. We all lead a busy life in real world and several new web tools have made life interesting. There are RSS feed readers which makes keeping track of news easier, various Firefox widgets which make browsing/ blogging easier but what has been the benefit of Facebook to me in the past 1 year?
Reconnecting with old friends - well yes i did find some of my old school colleagues on Facebook - we said hi, how are u ?, exchanged nos. but thats it -- after that its back to Mafia wars and horoscope updates.
Making New Friends - The supposed utility of meeting new people and supporting new groups again didnt work for me and i think there are enough opportunities in real life to meet people.... not choosing who "seems" interesting based on "profile" but simply interacting and let the chemistry decide if u click. Anyways u never know if the Profile is what it says and people who would consider acquaintances on internet as "Friends" are unlikely to be my type anyways - Friendship is much more than being neighbors in Farmville.
Being part of groups - Havent been much successful here --more sucessful going to Mocha Cafe and be a part of the film club or joining a trekking group , going paragliding.
Being in touch with distant friends economically - Well with the international call rates being what they are i guess the monthly Broadband connection costs more than making an occassional call to the distant friends and then there is always Skype, Gchat etc -- well if u really want to be in tocuh that is.
Great games -- Duh!!!
The only utility i see is to stay in touch with my Fans -- that is if i were SRK and people would actually pay me to write blogs so that ad revenue monetization can happen (comeon u dont beleive that Celebrities actually write on blog themselves do u?)
So in this year of the Tiger (in Chinese new year) i take this leap to touch base with the real world and bid adieu to the virtual one atleast for some time till a great app comes along.
Gong Hei Fat Choi
(Happy new year in Cantonese)
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