I don’t Facebook and never have. I don’t Twit and never have. I have never “chatted” online. I have never participated in form of “social media” (that is unless being in a few forums counts as social media, and I don’t post much in the few forums I am in).
I have never owned a smart phone, and have no desire for one.
Please tell me what I am really missing?
I don’t even have internet. Top that.
Facebook can be good for reconnecting with people you used to go to school with, or work with, or live near. It can also be a good way to stay in touch with family and friends that you don’t regularly see in person, at least if they’re the type to post regular status reports, pictures of their kids, etc. It can also be one way to keep up with what your favorite bands or sports teams or celebrities are up to.
Um…I know this is a matter of opinion, so I will try to choose my words carefully…but the answer to “Please tell me what I am really missing?”, IMHO, (there, have I hedged enough?), would be:
Fully participating in modern life.
Now, you certainly may find that to be objectionable, that is your choice.
Well, for Facebook, of course there’s the superficial “here’s what I’m having for dinner” silliness. But I’ve found that it’s also fantastic for allowing a globally-diverse community to come together over issues. For example, animal rescue groups are sharing information with each other not just for information but also escalating fundraising (donations from “rich” countries like the USA to other countries that have no donor support), and cultural change. The cultural change is a huge benefit although it’s so long-range and subtle that people can easily dismiss it as not real.
It works the same way for other issues, like the treatment of women around the world.
Twitter can work similarly, but I’m not sure it’s as effective. It’s hard to have a cohesive dialog with people on twitter (that other silent lurkers can read and learn from).
You’re sort of missing things. I signed up for Facebook when a high school reunion was being coordinated on there. Friends and family might post pictures and things that you might be interested in. You can subscribe to pages you’re interested in like various bands, and you’ll get notifications when they have news or upcoming shows.
As far as privacy, just remember Facebook doesn’t know anything that you don’t tell it. Give it your real name that your friends/family know you by (so people can find you), an approximate location (I just put Central Virginia) and IMO, a fake birthdate. I made my birthdate a year newer and 10 days later than my real birthdate. It’s in the ballpark, but there is more to be lost than gained by giving out your real birthdate online.
Also if you sign up for Facebook don’t give them your email account password. They try to subtly ask for your email password, but they will harvest all your contacts to figure out connections between you and everyone you’ve ever written.
Facebook doesn’t need to be an everyday thing, you can browse pictures/posts at your leisure.
That’s pretty much what I use it for.
I do have one niece that could post a few less selfies, though…
My life would be completely different without a smart phone. Camera, navigation, email, translation, social media, etc.
Eh… it’s a matter of convenience. For the longest time, geneb and I resisted getting smart phones. This year, we finally broke down and got them.
They paid off when we were stuck in an interstate stand-still 6 hours from home (basically, a multi-car pileup happened some miles ahead, on a bridge that was the only route through that part of the mountains), with a dog. We were able to look up a pet-friendly hotel in the adjacent town and booked an appointment online. We got one of their last rooms, and they were actively turning people away by the time we got there.
Otherwise, it’s kind of nice to have the camera handy (I love to identify local plants), and to satisfy ones’ curiosity at a few taps of a finger. I don’t use the phone for social media/email much, though.
Edit: As far as facebook goes, it’s a fast and easy way to keep up with major events in peoples’ lives, and to share new artwork with past patrons.
Different strokes.
For me, food pics are my favorite part of Facebook. I’m actually in several groups devoted solely to the celebration of ostentatious food prep.
You may or may not be missing anything, but fortunately you found a forum where communal ignorance of technology and social media is itself a kind of social medium.
If you’ve never had it, how can you miss it? 
This is exactly why I’m terrified of Facebook.
If I join, they’ll notify-without my permission-- everyone I have ever emailed, sending them an innocent-sounding message like “Good news! Chappachula is now on Facebook-- click here to send him a friend request.”
But to me, this is NOT an innocent little thing. I absolutely, positively don’t want to involve these people from work in my private life.
Yet my co-workers will see my name, send me a friend request, and naturally expect me to respond by friending them back.
So when Facebook sends me their request, I’ll have to ignore it, or worse–reject it. And then they might feel very insulted.
And if my co-workers and supervisors feel that I have deliberately insulted them—that could affect office politics in a way which could ruin my career, or even get me fired.
For me, Facebook is more likely to ruin my life than improve it.
Yeah,it would be a nice feeling to have Facebook and see a few pics from people I’ve lost touch with.
But it would NOT be a nice feeling to have Facebook cause me to lose my job.
Do what I do - reject it and tell them why. I’ve never had anyone have a problem with, “I keep my work and personal lives separate.”
Do you have the same work email and personal email? I don’t think Facebook has ever sent anything to the people I work with. It sends me some suggestions under the guise of “People you may know” and some of those happen to be coworkers but that’s because we both listed the same place of employment. You don’t have to tell Facebook that you have a job or where you work.
Not if you don’t think you are. I mean, if you were interested in it you would be doing it, right?
It took me the longest time to get even a simple flip phone but one too many instances of auto emergencies convinced me to keep one in the car at all times. Then I resisted getting a smart phone and even had a big discussion about it here so I could understand the pros and cons and etiquette and whatnot. I now have one and it hasn’t made the slightest bit of difference in my life. I use it just as I did my landline; if I’m busy you can leave me a message and I’ll call you back, just as if I didn’t have a phone with me. I have one friend who texts almost exclusively so it allows me to talk with her but she’s not a super close friend and though I like her, my life wouldn’t change if we never communicated outside of work.
As for Facebook, I’ve had an account for years and don’t even recall what my login is yet I get friend requests all the time. Usually I ignore them but the other day I accepted one from someone just to see what they could possibly be posting, since they always claimed to be as disinterested in it as I.
I also think a lot has to do with your age. The younger you are the odder it will seem to others that you don’t participate in any of that stuff (oh wait, does your user name mean you were born in 1992?)
There’s nothing wrong with any of these technologies; if they bring you joy or make your life easier, knock yourself out. But not everyone is interested and that’s okay too.
Your questions brings to mind the words of the great Nobel Prize winning Mr Bob Dylan:
“You’d better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone…”
If you don’t want to wake up one day entirely disconnected from life as its being lived all around you, you’d better get in the game.
Being out of the mainstream can be appealing in an young, arty, hipster. But it can be truly debilitating in old age. And progress, as you may have noticed, moves ever faster.
Do try and at least keep pace!
I never even upgraded to electricity. Just a bunch of pansies who couldn’t care for themselves.
Very well stated. For me, this is it, particularly since I returned to college at 52 and am conversing with kids.
Best poster handle/post content combination of the month.
So you must have bashed that post out by banging rocks together. 