Honorable Facebook?

Ok, you look all day for something stupid and damn, there it is. Some time ago I did a blog on how the world was changing, and how the Chinese were up and coming, and if we wanted to keep in the running we'd just better get our ducks in a row. Well, then there was this article about how the Chinese were hacking and attacking us. And they got caught!  How did they get caught?  Give me a moment. . .the smartest, oldest, most determined civilization in the world used their Facebook accounts. I kid you not, read the article.


We used honorable Facebook

Late at night and only if I'm drunk

Well, I broke down and returned to Facebook, but I have two rules; only late at night, and only if I'm drunk!

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2013/03/facebook-likes-used-to-predict-personal-information/:

Facebook Addiction

                                            Facebook Addiction

     I found myself falling victim to a malady that is becoming all too common these days. You start out just posting a few lines on Facebook in your status. From that you learn to share articles, pictures, videos, and message practically everybody in the world. Within a short while you begin to get some responses to the things you put, up and then you fall to the fable that those people hidden behind the veil actually care!

     If you're like me you don't actually know 99.9% of the people on Facebook you call "friends." They are incorporeal incarnations somewhere out there in a server somewhere, as you are to them. There are nice people out there, to be sure, but there are some clowns, too. There are people who are so withdrawn they can't muster the courage to ask for an hor devour at a party, but protected by the anonymity of a monitor screen they come alive!  And they build online personnas  from the most vivid imagination you've ever seen. 

     Years ago, when I worked at Apple Computer, I had the chance to meet some kids who'd hired over from AOL. They kept us in stitches telling us the carryings on in the "private" chats. Oh, I'm sorry. You didn't think anyone could see those, did you?  My bad. And, the other thing that was very interesting was their contention that almost no one was what they portrayed themselves to be online. Indeed, the very fact that they were online at one, two, or three in the morning was a sure bet they were overweight, and had absolutely no life whatsoever!  Not long after this the sexual predators and child molesters found a gold mine in online chat rooms and I'm sure you've seen the MSNBC series on that. 

     Now we come to Facebook. AOL was the start, then Yahoo, and now Facebook is the one step, one keystroke, Internet presence made easy for the up and coming nerd wannabe. And this very ease is what makes it addictive. Back in the day you had to actually know something to communicate via a computer. You had a dial up connection (maybe) and after all the bells and whistles you could hope to send a line. My first communication was in DOS. Cybersex THAT!  

     But my problem with Facebook wasn't that. Watched a "Big Think" with Penn Jillette yesterday. He was talking about the time he was on the Reality show Apprentice. He said that the omnipresence of cameras eventually would dissolve the ego and you would retreat into a mental box becoming less clever, less productive and very aware that your every move was being saved for posterity. That was my problem with Facebook. I was slowly dissolving into a mental soup where I waited eagerly for responses from a Pseudo public that simply did not exist. I wanted to reach the public, not what Facebook wanted to try to convince me was public. And I was beginning to remind myself of an old Richard Pryor line; Nigga been talking for fifteen minutes, ain't said shit!  

     Had a traumatic incident yesterday which reminded me of the fleeting nature of this life, and made real people very precious to me. Put up a very emotional blog and didn't think I would write for a while, or at least until the well filled again. Well, it rained. My sister gave me some very good advice about babies, as only a grandmother can do, and I began to relax. But, after walking through the valley of the shadow I did not come through unscathed. At first I considered just doing away with my Facebook account altogether, but the very fact that my sister had advised me from a message on Facebook made me stop and think. Don't throw your cell phone in the pool just because a bill collector called. Also, I do have some people I want to remain in contact with and there is almost no other way. One such person is Rabbi Gutman Locks in Jerusalem. A few others are not as famous, but in correspondence they have shown sincerity and they comprise that .1% of Facebook users that I consider to be real and sincere

     So, I came up with some rules. Henceforth and forever more I will not share photos, videos, other statuses, or post my own status for the world to see, or ignore, whichever the case may be. I will post to my own personal independent, online blog and send that link via private message to persons I think may be interested in that particular article. I would rather have seven honest reads than seven hundred Facebook spam/ego sandwiches. If anyone else wants to hear what I have to say they can search for it on the net, or one of my subscribers might pass it on. If you make a better sandwich they will come. If no one comes, add pickles. 

     Not hanging onto Facebook also does something else. It snatches you back to the real world. It's like giving up smoking. Suddenly you have a lot of time on your hands when you suddenly realize that no one gives a damn what you had for breakfast this morning. It's not that Facebook is evil. I'll leave that to the Westboro Baptist Church to draw a conclusion. It's just that I have things I want to do, and waiting to see if anyone looked a a picture of a cross-eyed cat is simply not one of them. 

     My decision is not for everyone. If you are a shut in, sitting in a wheel chair, typing on your keyboard with a stick clenched in your teeth, please continue. Just don't tell anyone you're Brad Pitt's cousin, ok? For me, though real life is preferred. That became very special yesterday. More than you will ever know.