Refusing to Join Facebook

I do not participate for several reasons:
1)I worry that the safeguards for privacy are porous.
2)People are losing the ability to have face to face discourse (Ever seen four people out for a meal together and they are all talking on their cell phones- why bother to get together?)
3)People are becoming more and more alienated from each other- Tied to their computers and not living an interactive life with other organisms.

What a great topic! I found out about it through your tweet, and laughed at the parenthetical, "probably the wrong crowd"! Yes, I'd say most twitterers would be facebookers, too, but we know those hold-outs and will pass the word on. FB has become so important to me -- in my work as a pastor, in my job as a mother, in my relaxation time,too -- that it's hard for me to understand the refuseniks. But I've learned not to give them too much trouble... becasue they're already getting it from so many others! I'm looking forward to your show!

I am the exact person you speak of, and I am very proud of it. I purposely do not use Facebook because 1) I do not want to be known by people I went to high school with. I enjoy the friends I currently have and we keep up with other in better ways, such as over coffee person-to-person. 2)I already spend WAY too much time on the computer, the last thing I need is another reason to sink into the hole. I'd rather try to pick up some of my other hobbies that don't currently have time for..

I'm not a Facebook refusenik, but I'm certainly a Facebook yo-yo. I've had an account for six years, but I go through periods in which I cleanse my profile of unwanted posts, decimate my friends list and refuse to log on for months at at time. But inevitably, the yo-yo unwinds, and I find myself scrolling through Facebook again. What can I say? Can't have a life with it; can't have a life with out.

I joined facebook in the early days when it was all college students and you could say whatever you wanted, post drunk pictures of yourself, and it was a cool way to see what everyone was up to... But now everyone is on there, so there really is no privacy. It was fun in college, but now it's just ridiculous.

As a 30-something mother-wife-IT professional-christian, I am the target audience for Facebook, but I simply have no interest. I enjoyed the discussion, and found myself chuckling at the comments made by those who think we refuseniks are just in denial, trying to avoid our ultimate destiny. My sisters, mother, and many friends enjoy Facebook, but I just do not wish to spend any more time behind a computer than I already have to. I do not have the privacy concerns that are so common because a) there is no such thing as privacy anymore - that's not a Facebook issue, and b) Facebookers can ensure privacy by not sharing anything that they want to keep private. I like face-to-face interactions and do not have any desire to establish a relationship with my computer. Thanks for airing this discussion!

I am a facebook addict, but I can see the viewpoints of those "refuseniks" as valid reasons not to become entrenched in the world of social networking. I like face-to-face time with my friends, and I often find how easy it is to be misunderstood online, in a status or comment, where in the "real" world, one would be able to put out most of those fires with the tone of their voice or a friendly smile.

I often thought about deleting my facebook, but I know I'd miss my college, grad school, and high school friends' updates and pictures. I guess I need to spend less time on it, maybe somehow strike a balance between keeping in touch but not becoming overly dependent on it for social interaction.

I don't see Facebook as an alternative to face-to-face relationships; it is an additional way to keep in touch. Through FB, I have reconnected with people from my past that I had had no contact with for ten years or more. While I live in New Hampshire, many of my friends are in CA, where I lived until my 40s, or in the Midwest, where I worked for a dozen years.

Recently I enjoyed a great vacation with dear friends who live in CA. The trip originated from a FB conversation.

I keep my Facebook information quite restricted and I am careful about privacy issues. But that doesn't mean that I have to forego FB.