I go there about once a week now. When I first signed on, I used to go several times a day. And then two things happened: the novelty wore off, and I realized how much time you can just piss away at a place like this on the Internet. Plus the site is constantly adding cutesy stuff that doesn't particularly float my boat. But if it does that for others, then you are going to have to put up with it, or turn those people off as friends on Facebook. So I decided FB doesn't need me there but about, say, once a week.
This seemingly innocuous entry is prompted by a story I just read about Facebook's membership topping 500 million users. This, friends, is half a billion people. If FB were a country, it would be the third largest in the world. In short, just a hell of lot of people. I don't know how many of them are people who are there sparingly, like me. Or how many users are being counted who signed up, got an account, and when the novelty wore off, just dropped off the site altogether. The company, which is only six years old and which began in a college dorm room, aims to have 1 billion users within a year.
What I do know is that some people are trapped in the Facebook whirlpool. I turned off several of these people The others who are always on there . . . well, I just wonder what they do with the rest of their lives.
Heads up: I'm going to be out of town Thursday and Friday. I'm going to Arlington to watch the Texas Rangers play a couple of games. So, hang on, as Arnold Schwartzenager would say: I'll be back.
4 comments:
Ugh. Facebook. I lasted a grand total of 7 days on that site a year ago this past January. And I've never regretted deleting the account since then. I was on Myspace for ~4yrs or so. But they deleted me this past March for "violation of video copyrights" after I uploaded 4 ovarian cancer awareness PSA videos one evening. lol I was upset, initially, when I later discovered that my account had vanished. But in the months since then, it's really been just SO NICE and PEACEFUL and incredibly destressing to NOT belong to any sort of "social networking" sites. It's quite staggering when you do that b/c you go through this whole online "detox" type of deal for several days. And that alone makes you just so infuriated with yourself to realize just how much you'd allowed the web to sneak up on you and steal away so many, many past hours from your life.
But, like I said, once you pass that phase, the relief you start to feel from just the removal of all of that jumbled information and stressors of communicating so often with pple. you may not have ever really cared for much 20 years ago (and still don't), well, it's just incredibly staggering. Definitely takes one aback a bit.
I've now gotten so detached from staying online so much that I don't even check my main email account everyday anymore. And that's phenomenal, considering I once could barely go more than a few hours without checking my mailbox.
Hope you had fun at the baseball game. Btw, do you know anything about what all's been going on with Joe Torre & the Dodgers? I'm not a Dodgers fan or anything, just sorta loosely pay attention to their record due to someone I once knew who was a huge fan of that team. Can't ask them about any of that stuff anymore, hence I'm asking you. I did read a short article on whatever happened, but as you can see, it didn't make a lot of sense to me and my baseball knowledge is severely lacking!
Hey. I definitely hear what you're saying about FB. I don't find my dipping in just every so often all that discombobulating. But you are right. It would not take me long to learn to live without it. In fact, you're planting a seed right now that may soon take root.
I don't think the Joe Torre thing amounts to much, Jo Ann. There's just been speculation about whether he's going to continue managing the Dodgers. This kind of out-loud wondering by the sports media is not particularly unusual, but still, it must have been a slow news day. (All this, of course, unless there's something about Torre going on that I don't know about.)
LOL - I was JUST reading an article discussing the whole FB phenom. on the Washington Post's website when I rec'd the notice email of your comment. The article itself was pretty dull to me, I was reading all of the readers' comments about the site. It's all such a good study of sorts in sociology. How people "network" and interact with others via this whole entity called the "world wide web". On second thinking about it, I think it's more of a psychological study than a sociological one actually. But anyway...The Joe Torre thing I'd heard about was that something'd happened last week at a game (I think) that resulted in him & a player (a pitcher, I think) were both banned from being on the field for a game or few...? lol I'd just figured there'd been some argument deal with an umpire or something.. Thanks for the input on it though! Btw which team are you a big fan of--the Rangers?
Just curious...
I have not heard or read anything in particular about Torre along the lines of what you're saying. But what you describe could have been his being tossed out of a game by an umpire, as you surmise. That can happen, and it has happened to all team managers at one time or another. And it sometimes happens that two people (or more) are tossed at once.
Yes, I'm a HUGE Texas Ranger fan. Have been since the mid-1980s. They are traditional weak sisters, get beat all the time. Except for this year. They are kicking butt, and all Ranger fans are positively ecstatic. Including me.
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