Like any good Ivy-leaguer, I have a facebook account. I am about to delete it, because I no longer approve of facebook. This post explains why I’m deleting my account, and the next one will have my comments on the recent post in Wired, and the last one will explain what I plan to do before and after the actual deletion.
Given the confusion that some of my friends have had with the concept, let me first clarify some of the reasons that are not behind my decision to delete my account.
- I am not opposed to the News Feed. Far from it. I like the News Feed. And I’m glad that facebook finally has RSS feeds that work with the status updates and notifications. For a while I used the status one, but that didn’t work very well.
- I don’t have a problem with the applications being launched on facebook. Some of them are good; some of them are bad. All in all, I think it’s a great thing for facebook that they’ve let people use their own imaginations to do cool stuff with facebook.
- I’m not worried about my privacy online. Everything I put online I choose to put online. I send emails and letters to friends without worrying how my thoughts could be used against me. I see no difference in putting up pictures and comments. If I did, I wouldn’t have this blog.
- I have no problem with the fact that anybody can join, or that networks are defined so loosely. In fact, I think they should have done that a long time ago. My membership in this group is really just tongue-in-cheek.
So why am I quitting facebook? The simplest answer is I don’t like telephone network effects, and I think their presence on an internet governed by open standards should be minimized if not eliminated. If I have a friend who, for whatever reason, chooses to use MySpace, I should be able to label myself as his friend without joining MySpace, whether I choose to be a member of another social networking site or not. The same applies to facebook.
In short, I’m quitting facebook because I wish they’d take the direction they’re going in farther. I’ve been thinking this for a while now, but the aforementioned post in Wired convinced me that the time is now. Go read it now, before you read anything else I write.
And once you’ve done so, you can read Part II here.
Hi Scott,
Finally got down to reading your reasoning (and no, this is not one of those self-indulgent emails whereby someone begins his address to his friend, by giving some most uninteresting piece of information about why they are reading what they are reading, like the “I was just doing…blabla….and suddenly I stumbled upon your … blablabla”-shit, no this, of course:), is different, read on). I fully agree with it and I admire the unity of thought and action. Thinking that such information should not be walled off, would not immediately imply that you have to quit facebook though. The best part of facebook is just its ease of use, and the time it would take me to figure out an alternative I could be saving dying kids in poor countries. It allows me to socialize with minimal time. If you develop an easy to use alternative, I’ll be the first to join (well, maybe not really the first, but you get the message).
This is where my ‘finally’ got down to reading kicks in. With so much to do in just a lifetime, life is full of trade-offs. Therefore, quitting facebook means either losing time and socializing as much, or having the same amount of time and not socializing as much. Since I, and presumably others, attach quite some importance to socializing (is probably an innate biological need for anyone with a functioning right part of the brain), that would prime. Now, in the time left, I like to put my conscience at rest, as that makes me feel better. For me, putting my conscience at rest, implies all this left leaning crap.
Therefore, in the trade-offs, I prefer to save dying children and animals (or improve my knowledge of these matters, in order to afterwards do that more effectively), then to worry about my social networking being cordoned off by private business. Of course, everyone has his or her own important goals, and its great that you like to put action behind your theoretical goals. Shkoach!
Anyway, given that you like to act in unison with your convictions, watch the following clip. http://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/video.asp?video=skin-trade-ili&Player=wm, (there’s even a hot babe in there, or maybe, even though there’s a babe in there), and do whatever you deem right. Hasta luego amigo!
Indeed this is not a self-indulgent email. Even though it was emailed to me, it’s on the web. This conversation is on the web, and if somebody out there searches Google for info on how they can fight poverty, this page, and your comment, will be somewhere in the results (on the gazillionth page, but still…).
Anyway, I wrote you in a quick personal email that this is not a moral crusade. You’re right that the actual question is only one of degree, and maybe I should consider prioritizing my goals along what matters more (i.e., fighting poverty over fighting for open standards).
Process is what matters to me. http://blog.scottcaplan.com/dont-click-me#politics. And process, whether in the form of voting rights or interoperable standards-based apps and software, changes the world. The world’s flattening may exacerbate inequality, it may lift parts of the world out of poverty. It may do both at the same time. I don’t know. But I do know that I like the idea of the world where information that people want to be shared is shared, searched, and discussed, and I think that world will lead to more just outcomes. And since process appeals to me more than fighting poverty (which is not to say I don’t care about fighting poverty), I’ll probably be better at it.
Now, speaking of appeal, I must admit that I was disappointed to discover that this “hot babe” was Pamela Anderson. You should be disappointed by the following google search too: http://tinyurl.com/38ng8k. The first result shows how principled the Canadian is on her no-leather position. And while both messengers might not be the best, this op-ed is interesting: http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/headline/2597.
Child, my friend. Let’s end the intellectual snobbery so characteristic of the institution you now attend, and so much of an anathema to the institution we both once attended (well, not really - but let’s just make a leap of faith for our dear old alma mater).
Facebook wants you. Your erstwhile facebook friends want you. I want you (no no - don’t get me wrong).
If I ever get time off my 17-hour workdays, I will actually make the effort to read through your bombastic little explanation for quitting facebook, and refute it word for word. But that’s not happening anytime soon, for I was just informed yesterday that I’m currently making about 0.5% of my expected earnings for the year. Ah well.
Take care, and do well.
All the very best,
Your little primate friend