My Facebook revival

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It may come as a huge surprise to some that I have managed to live a normal existence without Facebook in my life since 2008.

Now for those with their mouths wide open in shock wondering how on Earth I could possibly survive without checking Facebook first thing every morning bleary eyed I am here to tell you why I gave the worlds most famous book the flick 5 years ago.

I don’t usually like starting with the negatives but there is plenty not to like about Facebook. Lets go through them, shall we?

The selfies

How many times does one need to change their profile pic? We already know from the one you posted yesterday that you are beautiful. Divine, in fact.

The status updates

Crikey, we get it, he hurt you. Or she is a friend that you will never trust again. We also know that you are the happiest, luckiest woman in the world and you have the most perfect life! Or you are having the most horrible day and you just feel under appreciated. Fark. Give it a rest.

The dramatic resurfacing of past friends/boyfriends

The past is a great word. As an adjective it means “Gone by in time and no longer existing”. There are lots of great sayings that involve the word “Past” such as “It’s a thing of the Past” or “Sometimes in order to appreciate your future, you must remember the past”. Funnily enough, I don’t quite remember any that say “let the people of your past that hurt you, betrayed you or simply annoyed the hell out of you resurface so they can see every little personal thing that happens in your life on Facebook.” And so quite often you have to hit that reject button on the unwanted friend request. Or accept it begrudgingly in case you offend them. Or accept it excitedly if you are one of those that wants to “show them how amazeballs you are now”. Phew. I am exhausted just writing about this.

What ever happened to great holiday tales and pics told and shared in person?

I must admit, in a friendship I am a pretty old school kind of gal. I like talking on the phone, catching up for coffee and sharing stories…stories I haven’t already heard about on Social Media. I like physically being shown photos by their owner (preferably in an album but I’ll reluctantly settle for a phone or camera to keep up with the times) so I can be told the story to go with the photo. Have we forgotten these stories are often hilarious told in person and go quite well with a skinny cappuccino or glass of red?

So. No Facebook then.

And while there are plenty of negatives that go with being ON Facebook, now that Social Media is such an important form of communication- on both a personal and business level, there are stacks of negatives associated with being OFF it.

Out of sight, out of mind, out of the loop.

“How come you didn’t come to my birthday drinks” My friend asked after I bumped into her at the shops.

Huh? I mustn’t have been invited. Awkward.

“Um, I mustn’t have gotten the invitation?” I said quickly, hoping the awkwardness would subside.

“No, Kat! You were invited. I posted it on Facebo…” And then she realised.

For Goodness Sakes. I know paper invites are too much to ask these days but would a simple text go astray?

Like us on Facebook to WIN!

Surely this is discrimination? I too want to win a holiday to Koh Samui but I can’t even enter this damn competition because I am not on Facebook! What ever happened to collect and send in the barcodes or look under the lid of a coke bottle?

Losing every day contact with actual “friends”

So of course there are some fabulous people on Facebook. These are the people that use it to great effect- the ones that aren’t on it to show off or use status updates as a place they can inundate their friends with their every waking thought. They are there simply to keep in touch with those they don’t have time to call every day or even every week. For this reason Facebook is fantastic and could have potentially come in handy for me living abroad and interstate for the last 5 years.

So with all this said, after much deliberation, I have decided to give Facebook another crack, if its only a page for my Blog to begin with (baby steps). Already I have had lovely people from my past get in contact and I want to just put it out there that I am so pleased you did!

Armed with a little more maturity, I reckon I will enjoy Facebook this time around. If you have any tips or tricks, I would love to hear them because I really am a novice.

And Like Me! Please!

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