On Bandwagons/Facebook

I’ve never been one of those people who jump on bandwagons.  That’s not to say that I haven’t (or that I don’t), but I think it’s a rarity.  I’ve walked my own path in life, even if (and when) it makes me a bit (or a lot) weird.  I try to be original, and I attribute this to my artistic nature.  I don’t want to emulate (though I can’t help but emulate some singers’ voices) artists; I want to be my own.

Let us consider the clothes that are in my closet.  I have a large collection of Hawaiian shirts.  I’m not sure if these shirts have ever been in style, but for some reason, I’ve always liked them.  Looking further at my closet you’ll find plenty of STAR WARS shirts.  Again, not sure about they style they offer, but I like them.  In fact, unless the situation really calls for it, I don’t care whether or not I match (gasp!) when I dress myself.  I almost never brush or comb my hair, or what’s left of it.  Again, I walk my own path in life.

I go out of my way to not listen to current, popular music, unless I myself think it sounds good.  I don’t get in to all those reality television shows, or half of the other crap on the tube, either.  Books I’m not so picky on, just as long as the plot is entertaining.  I’m proud to say that I don’t have a Twitter account, and frankly, I have no real idea what it is.  I don’t have an iPhone.  I don’t text message.  I don’t do LSD and sniff cocaine off a coffee table.  What I do have, though, is a Facebook account.

Yes, that is a bandwagon I hopped on.  Back during my freshman year of college a little program came out called thefacebook.com.  It was solely for college students, where they could keep up with one another, message each other, make some friends, and write on their walls.  That’s about it, I think.  I thought it would be a good way for me to stay in contact with some high school friends (hahahahaha…) and some college friends.  The world was fine.

Then evolution happened.  Facebook opened doors to high school students, then to corporations and companies, and then to anybody that wanted to get on there, just as long as they said they were over the age of 13.  A cornucopia full of applications suddenly appeared.  Ads exploded on the sidebars.  The GUI went through several changes, and each one brought complaints.  The few million college users turned into a 350 million active worldwide users, and things will never be the same.

I’ve wanted to get off Facebook for a while now.  Probably something like a year or two.  I strongly dislike the applications and quizzes, and whenever anybody sends me one, I immediately block it.  I don’t care, nor do I want to know, what Suzy Q’s doing right now.  I don’t play games on Facebook, nor do I want to.  The only things I like about it is looking at pictures and mirroring my blog as a note.  While I said it would be great to keep in touch with my college and high school friends via Facebook, there are really only a handful of folks that I keep in touch with, and I have their emails.

But it’s hard to let it go now.  The world has changed so much, and many of my interests are now on Facebook.  Businesses, churches, etc. incorporate Facebook into their lifestyle now.  Fan pages exist, making it seem like you’re a “friend” of somebody/something special.  Ugh.  The whole market-system of it all sickens me.

Have I mentioned I hate applications?  Yes, I believe I did, but I think it deserves another mention.  I hate applications.  I won’t answer strange questions to poorly correlate me to see which character I’m most like from Mork & Mindy or Three’s Company.  I refuse to accept your cute puppy thing you’ve sent me.  I consider myself your friend, but I won’t take your Top Friend’s quiz thing.

I’ve sufficiently exhausted myself and rekindled my burning desire to extinguish my Facebook account.  It’s been active for five years.  I’ve enjoyed some of my time on Facebook, but I’ve been frustrated by it, too.  (Drama should not exist online.)  Who knows.  Maybe I’ll finally manage to pull a Facebook suicide and rid myself of this plague on humanity.  Or maybe I’ll start playing FarmVille and the world will explode.

Random Bits & Pieces

• I accidentally stabbed myself with a kitchen knife over the weekend.
• I watched the entire second half of the Super Bowl and I enjoyed it.
• I’ve never watched football before.
• I ate from a delicious chocolate fondue last night.
• DeVotchKa is a pretty sweet band.
• I laughed and laughed and laughed at this video, “The World’s Most Generic News Report.”  [WARNING: It’s got a few worty dirds in it.  But only a few.  And it’s very, very funny.]