Geek

I quit Facebook this weekend and I left Twitter a few months ago. I quit Facebook once before by deleting my account but I found that I still wanted to be able for friends and family to see photos and stuff so this time I’ve kept it active and have my Flickr account linked to it. We’ll see how long that lasts before I actually go delete it again.

The signal to noise ratio is all wrong on these platforms. Even after keeping your friends list trimmed and hiding all of the stupid games and such, what value are these sites bringing to your life? Sure, I like to keep up with people I care about but I can do that by actually talking to them. The bulk of the posts are not anything that will affect my life in any way, positive or negative. The time sink that these sites create though, will.

Social networking can be an addiction more than a value add to your day; just another way to kill time instead of doing something productive or with lasting value to your life. I quit watching network television a couple years ago for the same reasons and I don’t miss that either. Go cold turkey for a month and tell me what you’re missing… IF you can make it that long.

Seth Godin: Quieting the Lizard Brain on Vimeo – you want to do great things? Focus on finishing things.

I finally tried some of Starbuck’s new Via instant coffee and it’s actually pretty good. It’s not regular instant freeze-dried-whatever-the-hell-instant-coffee-is crap. Via is “micro ground” coffee beans that you just add hot water to and you’ve got a cup of coffee. You can see some fine particles in the last sip of the cup but you can’t detect them in the coffee in a bad way.

Via is going to be my coffee of choice for the next camping trip for sure.

Hearing about Google Wave and not sure what it is? There is a good 10 minute video from Google showing some examples of it being used here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6pgxLaDdQw&feature=player_embedded

Cool stuff. I think I’m going to plan poker nights with it… if only more of my friends can just get accounts already!

It may not be long lived, but I’ve returned to facebook. I swore I wouldn’t go back but I’m giving it one more try anyway. This time I’m being much more restrictive on who I friend, disabled all the apps and crap, and turned the verbosity of the email notifications way down. I’ve reconnected with a few friends already and I guess that’s what it’s good for.

Now we’ll see how long I last… I still think it’s a time sink.

I think the thing that bugs me most about Facebook, Twitter, and the like is the way they make it easy for others try to get me to waste time. For instance, things like all the apps that want me to play poker or give or get a Shrute-buck. I don’t really want to play with these crappy little apps and the social pressure of my “friends” sending them to me isn’t really welcome in my day. Also, I have more than enough email so yet another way to get electronic mail inside each of these sites is also not something I want. Facebook became a chore to me… log in, look at all the crap that showed up, check my private messages, approve friend requests, read my wall, blah blah blah. I don’t have time for that. Email me, or call me, but don’t write on my freaking wall. And if you don’t know me in RL in some way, why are you inviting me to be your “friend” anyway?

The other thing that comes to mind is what inspired this very blog post. I’m seeing a few twitter posts with catchy titles and a tinyurl link that go to some article I don’t care about. Using the power of “someone I know” to drive me to actually click it, I do. And it’s nothing I care about. I actually like twitter. I really like following people I know. But for the love of god, tell me what you’re sending me off to.

I think these sites all have great potential and great uses. People just need to learn how to use them and find what they are good at. I think I’ll even re-activate my facebook account soon… but I won’t be accepting nearly as many “friend” requests this time around. I’m all for wasting time… but it’s on my own terms for now on.