# I'm not on Facebook and never will be **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 6, 2012, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-on-facebook-and-never-will-be/617985 "2012-04-06T05:02:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-on-facebook-and-never-will-be/617985/61 "2012-04-06T15:58:32Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Opposite here. My personal e-mail is checked more than once a day, but if someone uses FB they may not hear back from me for a few weeks. Same with texts - unless I am expecting one, I may not look at texts for a day or two and wonder why someone did not just call me. I guess I am old school. I don’t understand this. Your texts arrive on your phone, yes? Whether someone calls you or texts you, it causes your phone to ring/beep. If you have your phone with you for the purpose of making and receiving calls, I don’t understand how you can miss a text for a couple of days. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-on-facebook-and-never-will-be/617985/62 "2012-04-06T16:00:54Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > I don’t understand this. Your texts arrive on your phone, yes? Whether someone calls you or texts you, it causes your phone to ring/beep. If you have your phone with you for the purpose of making and receiving calls, I don’t understand how you can miss a text for a couple of days. If you have an old school phone, you could have that turned off and then not navigate to the texts very often. That’s not me though. I’ll know about a text the instant it arrives and will have read it within an hour, usually much sooner. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-on-facebook-and-never-will-be/617985/63 "2012-04-06T16:03:25Z")
I don’t have cable by choice. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-on-facebook-and-never-will-be/617985/64 "2012-04-06T16:05:05Z")
> [@Jake\_Jones](#): > > It’s not a frivolous question. Not having a Facebook account is perceived as abnormal for those less than “fucking old.” Those of us less than 80 years old who choose not to Facebook are perceived by many as weird. These days that absolutely is true, and it’s an interesting discussion, I think. I’m 40 and have two friends about my age - one 41 in a few weeks, the other 36 - who don’t have FB accounts and I am quite sure they are the only close acquaintances I know who do not who are not senior citizens. Both are adamantly determined not to start FB accounts, and both are pretty frequently picked on about it. They’re considered holdouts or Luddites by, well, everyone. I couldn’t go without FB now if for no other reason than I’m performing standup comey and FB has become the de facto organizing tool of the standup comedy industry, but it’s useful and fun for other stuff. However, there’s other social media I’m not on - Twitter, for instance, is something I tried for two days and quickly gave up on. Some people can barely live without it, and it’s very popular as a source for information on media/celebrity issues. Apparently all my favourite baseball players are urging me to follow them on Twitter, but I won’t, and so in that regard I guess I’m the Luddite. I think the issue with Facebook, if you don’t have a professional reason to use it as I do, is whether or not your decision point for using it came before or after you just ran out of time. I don’t use Twitter because, to be honest, I simply cannot find the time to use it. It just didn’t make it into my awareness before I finally ran out of time. I’m a grown adult with a child, a job, sports, hobbies and other obligations, and there’s a limit as to how many social media networks I can monitor. I guess my two friends ran out of time before they could get on Facebook. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-on-facebook-and-never-will-be/617985/65 "2012-04-06T16:06:29Z")
I don’t use FB because I don’t want my entire family following me around the internet. And since many of my family members have friended the friends I’d want to follow anyway, I get to hear multiple times about what everyone on there is doing anyway. My mother will often copy things from facebook and email them to me, because she’s just that concerned I won’t get to have my life enriched by seeing the pictures of my 3rd cousin’s baby’s Halloween costume or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-on-facebook-and-never-will-be/617985/66 "2012-04-06T16:49:51Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > I don’t understand this. Your texts arrive on your phone, yes? Whether someone calls you or texts you, it causes your phone to ring/beep. If you have your phone with you for the purpose of making and receiving calls, I don’t understand how you can miss a text for a couple of days. Yes, but my phone is not usually on me. It sits in my bag at work and is on buzz, so I may not hear it and may not check it at the end of the day. I do not carry it around much on the weekend, either. Again, if I am expecting something, as when someone tells me they are going to text me before lunch to confirm where/when, then I know to keep an eye on it. I am one of those rare people you may see walking around NOT with a phone in my ear or futzing with my phone to fill time. I freely confess I am not an early adopter. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-on-facebook-and-never-will-be/617985/67 "2012-04-06T17:02:49Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Yes, but my phone is not usually on me. It sits in my bag at work and is on buzz, so I may not hear it and may not check it at the end of the day. I do not carry it around much on the weekend, either. Then I guess I don’t understand why you wish people had called you instead, if you’re not going to get the message either way. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-on-facebook-and-never-will-be/617985/68 "2012-04-06T17:16:33Z")
I wish I had never set up an account. Ever since I did, it is just people who I really don’t want anything to do with pestering me; right wing nuts from my home town who think Obama is a socialist Muslim, and people I vaguely remember from highschool. I know I’ve said this before, but if you haven’t hear from me in 20 years, take the hint. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-on-facebook-and-never-will-be/617985/69 "2012-04-06T17:17:18Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > Another non-FB person here and I’m not smug about it - I’m just not interested. I had an account for a while, but too many of my “friends” used it to spew their political BS, most of which was hateful. I also got tired of being asked to play games and I didn’t see the point of someone “buying me a beer” or whatever other silliness they did. It was more of an annoyance than it was worth to me, so I dumped it. I know I miss out on certain things since the whole world, including businesses, seem to think it’s essential. My loss… Ditto on all counts. Maybe we should create “Faceless Accounts” where we have one fictional email address that everyone writes to - but we never hear back; never get pictures of stupid kittens, never get bile-ridden diatribes from people we haven’t seen or heard from in 20+ years, never get idiot comments about what someone ate for lunch, never get bible-thumpers quoting from the fictional book, never have mom and your co-worker sharing info about when you were five years old… ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-on-facebook-and-never-will-be/617985/70 "2012-04-06T17:34:13Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > A febbok message is exactly like an email. I have no idea why it would be any more or less convenient than sending a regular old email. Slightly more convenient because I don’t need to maintain an address book, just a friends list. Professionally, I love Linked In for that very reason…because it gives me a good email address for coworkers who tend to move around. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-on-facebook-and-never-will-be/617985/71 "2012-04-06T17:42:29Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Slightly more convenient because I don’t need to maintain an address book, just a friends list. Professionally, I love Linked In for that very reason…because it gives me a good email address for coworkers who tend to move around. You know, that’s a good point. I forget sometimes what a pain in the ass it was to keep up with people’s email addresses and remember which one to use for personal correspondence and which one was for work/emergencies only or whatever. Now I usually just Facebook message people (or possibly catch them on chat), job done. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-on-facebook-and-never-will-be/617985/72 "2012-04-06T18:00:32Z")
I resisted Facebook for a long time, but two things eventually got me on it. One, most of my family was on Facebook, and I was missing out on a lot of information. I don’t really put a whole lot of effort into it, but I’ll occassionally see a relevant post or someone can message me, and I can keep up more easily on those things. And two, I found that it was becoming more difficult to date without being on Facebook. I don’t do a whole lot on Facebook, I rarely make any sort of update posts about what’s going on in my life unless it’s particularly important. I do post a decent number of videos related to music, and sometimes post things I think other people my find interesting on their walls. I also use the chat feature a fair bit, essentially a direct replacement for AIM. That all said, I don’t really understand why some people seem proud of not being on Facebook. The only real arguments I’ve seen is that it’s too confusing or they don’t want to waste so much time on it, but no one says you have to spend hours a day on there. I know some people who check it multiple times a day and seem to be online pretty much any time I check, but I also know people who only log in every couple of weeks or so for maybe a few minutes. I understand not using it if you hardly ever use a computer, but it just seems odd to me for people that spend a fair amount of time on the internet to refuse to use Facebook at all. Even with privacy concerns, it doesn’t require any more personal information beyond a name and an email address and whoever you friend/follow. Chances are, most people have exposed themselves as much or more about their personal lives in posts here than they have any need to provide to have a Facebook account. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-on-facebook-and-never-will-be/617985/73 "2012-04-06T18:10:37Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Slightly more convenient because I don’t need to maintain an address book, just a friends list. Professionally, I love Linked In for that very reason…because it gives me a good email address for coworkers who tend to move around. I agree that this is a very good point that I hadn’t considered. It’s still not enough to sway me. > [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > That all said, I don’t really understand why some people seem proud of not being on Facebook. The only real arguments I’ve seen is that it’s too confusing or they don’t want to waste so much time on it, but no one says you have to spend hours a day on there. I know some people who check it multiple times a day and seem to be online pretty much any time I check, but I also know people who only log in every couple of weeks or so for maybe a few minutes. I understand not using it if you hardly ever use a computer, but it just seems odd to me for people that spend a fair amount of time on the internet to refuse to use Facebook at all. Even with privacy concerns, it doesn’t require any more personal information beyond a name and an email address and whoever you friend/follow. Chances are, most people have exposed themselves as much or more about their personal lives in posts here than they have any need to provide to have a Facebook account. There are an enormous amount of assumptions here that I don’t think apply to the majority of non-FBers in this thread. I just honestly, for me, don’t have much use for it’s features. I am no Luddite. I have, love and constantly use my iPhone and am online more than I care to admit. For me, the negatives way outweigh the positives. I am not being stubborn and take no pride in it. I admit that I have an account with fake information and a throwaway email account that I use to see pictures or links that people email me from time to time but that’s all the use I need. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-on-facebook-and-never-will-be/617985/74 "2012-04-06T18:16:59Z")
I Tweeted a Wikipedia of my Facebook to Tumblr at Foursquare through Pinterest. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-on-facebook-and-never-will-be/617985/75 "2012-04-06T18:20:38Z")
FB is what you make of it. As it evolved and grew I started using it more and more. It’s nothing I spend much time on, but more of a hub for musings and connecting with the people I know, and the people they know in new and interesting ways. And, just like IRL, I learned it’s best to not bring politics or religion into your page. Now I try to keep it mostly lighthearted or a place to archive my life through thoughts, pics, my work, etc. I love it. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-on-facebook-and-never-will-be/617985/76 "2012-04-06T18:20:42Z")
> [@Jake\_Jones](#): > > It’s not a frivolous question. Not having a Facebook account is perceived as abnormal for those less than “fucking old.” Those of us less than 80 years old who choose not to Facebook are perceived by many as weird. > > There’s no need to be dickish about it. I didn’t think I was fucking old, but I have never gotten grief from anyone for not having a facebook account. I have no gripe with those who do. I’m surprised to hear that there is an expectation that someone would have a facebook account. Sure, I expect most people to have email and a cell phone, but I never knew facebook was in that category. Ignorance fought. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-on-facebook-and-never-will-be/617985/77 "2012-04-06T18:21:41Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > I Tweeted a Wikipedia of my Facebook to Tumblr at Foursquare through Pinterest. You just broke the internet. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-on-facebook-and-never-will-be/617985/78 "2012-04-06T18:22:30Z")
So I had this great idea of registering “[imnotonfacebook.com](http://imnotonfacebook.com)” and setting up an interface where all your friends can post personal information about you. That way anyone who said “I don’t want my personal info to be on the internet” wouldn’t have any reason not to sign up for the _real_ facebook, because all their stuff would be out there anyway. Peer pressure! Succumb! Succumb! ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-on-facebook-and-never-will-be/617985/79 "2012-04-06T18:28:11Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I had an account for a while, then deleted it. Several teachers in this region ended up in battles with their employers over stuff “friends” had posted on their wall. I wasn’t getting much enjoyment out of it in any case, so I got rid of it rather than run any professional risk. This. What little social networking I do is via channels that don’t use my actual legal name and therefore can’t link anything to it. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-on-facebook-and-never-will-be/617985/80 "2012-04-06T18:30:42Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I agree that this is a very good point that I hadn’t considered. It’s still not enough to sway me. I’m not trying to sway you. Facebook is not my favorite thing in the world. But the one thing it does for me well is have the people in my life self catalog. If they want me to know when their birthday is, I get told by Facebook. If they want me to know their current email address I can find it on Facebook. For many of them, if they want me to attend an event, I find it on Facebook. And, for some reason, many of my friends find it acceptable to get a “happy birthday” via facebook. Since I wouldn’t send most of them a card anyway, its a small touchpoint improvement - though, in my opinion, not by much. Almost no one returns the favor, as my own privacy settings are locked down. BUT, I should touch it once a day, or perhaps more, to find out what is going on in the lives of friends I have. And in doing so I bring junk into my life - that nice guy at work I wanted to stay in contact with posts Tea Party glurge. My cousin, who I want to keep in contact with for family reasons, had become a bible thumper. The friend of a friend is an anti-vaxxer. And some days, it isn’t worth it. But I can block those people, keep them as friends so that if I want to reach out to them I can, without having to see if they think eating meat should be outlawed or find homosexuality to be evil or getting invited to put sheep on someone’s farm. And I expose myself to the evil Facebook marketing machine and the lack of privacy even my limited posting creates. If you can get by without needing facebook because your friends stay in touch without the marvels of technology (or without this particular tool) and you don’t find yourself wondering why everyone else knew that they were meeting Thursday for happy hour and you didn’t, then it probably isn’t worth it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-on-facebook-and-never-will-be/617985.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-on-facebook-and-never-will-be/617985.md?page=5)