That’s really on you then, isn’t it? The existence of Facebook has nothing to do with how you treat someone online versus how you treat them in “real life.”
Yes, but ignoring family and friends was much easier. 
Be on Facebook, or don’t be on Facebook. It’s not a big deal either way. Some people find it useful and others don’t, and it’s all fine. In the end it’s just another website.
I resisted Facebook for a while, I eventually joined it when I realized that there were things going on in my family and amongst my friends that I was missing, and it was making dating more difficult. I made an account, and in all the time that I’ve had it, I think I’ve only actively requested a few friendships, the overwhelming majority were people friending me. I think a lot of people overuse Facebook, and the Facebook gamers can be a bit obnoxious, but overall its a positive thing.
I like the chat feature. I like that I can have small interactions with people that I might not have any interactions at all. I tend to make infrequent but meaningful posts, so it’s nice to get interactions from all of my friends all over the spectrum. It’s nice to organize meetups with people. It’s nice to just see what’s going on with various people or share little things with them that might not otherwise get shared. I follow a number of bands on there, so it’s nicet to see when they have new releases, concerts, and all. And sometimes I’m a little bored, so I can scan through there to waste a couple minutes, maybe rather than a random game on my phone.
Yes, I get sick of the people who treat Facebook like a blog and explain every minute detail of their lives or constantly post about how horrible or fantastic their lives are. I get sick of people who post a dozen images in a row that are really just unclever phrases, particularly those ecards. But when I see people like that, I just block their feeds or unfriend them. The downsides really aren’t that bad, and they’re easily taken care of. It certainly doesn’t require checking multiple times a day. On a typical day I’ll spend maybe 5-10 minutes on it, sometimes a little more, often none at all. I know plenty of people who check it briefly once a week or even less.
Sure, I’m not particularly happy that it’s essentially required for the modern day, but that train has come and gone with a lot of other things too. To me, the whole “I don’t have a facebook account” has that whole hipster sort of vibe to it like “I don’t have a cellphone” or “I don’t have a TV”. Have it or not, I really don’t care, and if you don’t, you may miss some things, but you probably don’t care. Seems like a whole lot of nothing all around.
Heh. Then Facebook, and its ilk, is definitely not for me. I know way too much about what’s going on in the personal lives of members of my extended family and colleagues as it is. The last thing I want is more of that, please. Thank you very much. 
What I hear (or interpret) from some Facebook users is I should be interested in my extended family’s, colleagues’, and friends’ personal lives and interests. The thing is I truly could not possibly care less, even if I tried. Now if someone were willing to pay me…
If I ever want to vent or impart some info about myself, I’ll do it here, where you guys don’t know me from a hole in the wall, and care even less.