Yunno...I really hate Facebook. I actually stopped using my real life facebook ages ago. Then a couple months ago I created my review facebook so I could enter contests etc.

however, I get what you mean about friends saying "well I sent you an invite on facebook" or "well didn't you see that on facebook", "I sent you a message like a month ago". And these are the people who know I dont go on FB, know my phone number and could text me every day if they wanted to...but they insist on sending it through facebook.

The only reason why I keep my account is because I do have family and friends from afar, and if ever I do need to get a hold of them, well I know here to find them...and the rest of the world.

Another thing I can't stand is everybody feels the need to dictate their every waken moment. What they eat, when they do laundry, where they are going, when they will be back...and them stupid facebook games!....I had to disable my wall because all I would get is facebook game requests. ugh!

end rant.

Yeah, I totally feel you.

I'm with you. Facebook irritates me to no end. Family members are obsessed with it and say I'm just being ill-mannered and anti-social.

Facebook is just a social networking site that allows people to connect. I think people rely very heavily on facebook and make it into a new form of communication, which I don't really think it was meant to be. I think of facebook more as a personal website for myself. Kinda like when myspace was all the rave and you made it unique to you.

I never really had the problem of not knowing what was going on in facebook world because I've always kept a close knit of friends and they just tell me in person, even if they also sent one through facebook.

Bottom line is that you use these tools the way you wish, but some things can and often do get out of hand. Just keep in mind that its not the tool, its the people.

I have a love/hate with Facebook.

Part of what has kept me discussing the mundane on my Facebook are the uber-political, uber-religious assholes who continually feel the need to "correct" me for things. Basically, I stick to messaging with friends (very occasionally), and using the email service.

I agree that it robs us of more intimate interactions. However, I don't see society getting rid of it. Unless I'm talking to friends that are 100s of miles away, I use it to say "Hey, let's get together" because face-to-face conversation is so much better and THAT is how friendships deepen.

So I love it because it lets me get in touch with people I want to be close with/keep in touch with. But I hate it because EVERYONE has some kind of political/religious agenda to push.

I hate facebook.

I am feeling your pain! I have the same problem with the stupid invitations on Facebook.

My sons teachers are forever announcing things on Facebook, which we do not find out about until after the fact because my son is not allowed to Facebook. I rarely look or log in to my acct; we personally find it a waste of time. Besides that, why would I friend my kids teachers on my Facebook? I wouldn't chose to friend some of my family members because I appreciate my privacy. The way I look at it, if it is important, you should pick up the damn phone and talk to me about it or at the very least send me a email, but do not assume I live on Facebook!

I do not participate in the EF contests because I absolutely refuse to Facebook or Twitter or anything else for that matter.

I hate those damn things!

I AM SO WITH YOU YODA! While I use twitter and facebook mildly, I would love it if they vanished an the earliest possible moment.

WARNING: THIS IS A RANT TOO LOL...
If you have a tendency to think everything is about you personally, please don't read this. It is merely a personal rant

"it infuriates me to no end that the only way to engage with my own generation is to spend more time on my computer."

OMG YES! I think it is sad, somewhat pathetic, and rude when people use facebook (only facebook and nothing else) to announce important things like engagements, weddings, showers, babies, etc. And the main reason for this is: "Did actual effort go out of style?" Did class go out the window? Social skills too? Tradition? And don't get me started on the people who use facebook only for the actual "invitations" to such announcements. Take the effort to actually know where your friends and family live, write it out, ya-know with one of those ink filled things, and buy the stamps to support the USPS that is going out of business. Depending on technology is affecting more than many people realize.

I swear facebook will be the downfall of youth in the work force. How the fuck do you expect to get a job when you can't even communicate face to face in an interview?

"Are we really more connected? Or are we growing farther apart." Farther apart for sure. "Didn't you get my facebook message"..."No, I'm sorry. I communicate in real time." I just emptied hundreds of facebook messages out of my inbox. They were unread. If something is important enough to tell me, and I have not responded to the message, fucking call me. If I am not expecting a FB message, chances are, I won't read it. This does not apply to the dozens of people I communicate with from EF on FB (or anny of the other people I have not actually "met")-it is more for the random "OMG have not talked in forever messages. How are you?". If you care, see me face to face to catch up. There are no excuses unless you are far away, in that case... pick up the damn phone since it is probably connected to your body in some way 24/7 anyways. You are probably using it to send the facebook message in the first place!

I have a brother who is probably the most popular and media-savvy person I know. He's way cooler than I'll ever be. We have a problem. Every time we get together, which is rare because he lives in another country, we argue about facebook and technology, and the effect it is having on western society. He thinks that it will save the world. I think that it will ruin it.

He claims that facebook creates a sense of community where there was none before. He is so proud of his ever-growing list of "friends", and on his birthday, he told me that more people will send him birthday shout-outs through facebook than through any other means of interaction. This, he claims, is a good thing. He really seems to be feeling the electronic love.

I say it's not love at all. It's attention. They are not the same thing, and yet so many people cannot distinguish a difference between them. Sadly, it's my opinion that there is an ever-growing number of adults that would rather have frequent attention from people that they barely know, than experience consistent, but possibly less vogue love from the people that they do.

The truth of the tale is this: my brother claims that facebook is building community, and yet he won't stop complaining that my grandparents are on it. It bugs him to no end that while he has a list of modern, hip friends that are regularly engaged in his life, old people are constantly butting in. Apparently they don't belong. I think it's a poor excuse for community if the only people that are allowed to benefit from it are the people that you like the most. That's not community at all, that's a cult.

I agree with you Yoda. I don't have a facebook account. Facebook is an evil company, IMO.

My boss just bought a smart phone. He says that he thinks it instantly made him less social. Where previously he would have talked to others around him as he carpools, waits in line, etc, now he finds his phone so captivating that he would rather just do things on his phone.

I haven't accepted my father's friend request yet! He has all these weird conspiracy theories and I simply don't want to hear about them any more than I have to. Also, I feel the few times a month I go to my FB page, I don't want to be aggravated.

I feel like a crap for not "getting around to it" yet, but for him, it's an other platform for his craziness.

I just set up a Facebook account the other day, but that was for quasi-business reasons related to EF. I'll set up another some day that covers business-related info outside EF, but I have no interest in setting up an account for sharing personal information.

I like FB cause at my age, I kinda travel. With FB, I can communicate with my family and friends in Texas, after a parade at midnight in Magic Kingdom.

I like checking out pictures and taking stupid quizzes and joining groups relevant to me.

Doing the contests for Eden via FB doesn't bother me, cause everybody already knows I do it, and I don't use my legal name on my FB anyways.