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I never had much interest in sites like Facebook or MySpace, or whatever else there is nowadays, but, since even my college had a page for it, a while ago I decided to make a Facebook account.

I deactivated it within about three hours.

You ask why? Well, there were a couple of reasons.


Reason #1: There was nothing to DO!

Okay, I'm sure for people who like that sort of thing, there's plenty to do. I'm sure people could argue with me about it. But from my viewpoint, there was nothing to do. It was taking up my time because people kept talking to me, but that was it.

I guess it's just the whole "social network" sort of idea. When it comes to such things, I go on Neopets and Gaia.

I've kind of fallen out of my love of Neopets as I've gotten older, and I mainly only go there now for my guild of book-loving authors. For years, though, Neopets was my LIFE.

I'd go on, and I'd feed my pets, and make sure they were happy... Then I'd go around, trying to win items and playing games--oh, did I ever spend a lot of time playing games! They had some great games. The ones they come out with nowadays aren't that great, but boy did they have some great ones... The Last Blast was the first first-person shooter I ever played, and even though I was terrible at it, I loved it. I played card games while waiting to hear from friends. Destruct-O-Match was my stress relief. I could play Meerca Chase for hours.

And I'd look forward to the next plot. That's another thing that's been ruined lately--the storylines of the plots! What's wrong with having a good, old-fashioned WAR?!

I hung on to every last word of the Meridell plots like they were the greatest works ever written. What a story... I spent months defending Lord Darigan (to this day, some people think he was a villain; curse you, TNT, for putting him in the Gallery of Evil), until "Darigan, Redeemed" was at last revealed in the second plot. The Three, with their whispered temptations and unspeakable power over their victims, terrified and fascinated me.

I read the Neopian Times promptly every week. I never do anymore, but I need to go back and see if any of my favorite authors wrote recently. I WROTE for the Neopian Times! I took my beloved characters, Darigan, Jeran, and all the rest, and wove them into my stories! I took The Three, and tried to develop them into the terrifying demons they had the potential to be!

In short, although I may have fallen away from the site slightly now, I loved what it held for me back then!

And, of course, I became a member of Gaia. It doesn't quite have me in that same sort of grip, but that might be just because I haven't been a member long enough. Here, the social aspect took over much more--I spend my time talking to friends and browsing the forums.

Oh, and I play Booty Grab, of course--why? Well, first of all, because it's a fun game, and second of all, because I'm trying to earn enough gold for a Mercury's Moon!

Ah, yes, the items! I have goals. I want to get new items for my avatar. I enter contests occasionally--for the joy of writing, and in the hopes of winning some of these nifty items!

Again, there's lots of stuff for me to DO.

I mean, what really could I spend hours doing on Facebook if I was going through an antisocial phase? ...I could minimize it and spend my time somewhere ELSE!

And that brings me to my second part...


Reason #2: Too much SOCIAL!

Yes, I know that sentence is not grammatically correct at all. "Social" is not something you can actually have. On the other hand, it sounds vaguely like something Fawful might say, so I'm leaving that thought as it stands. Facebook had too much social.

I am paranoid. I do not trust easily. I take a while to make friends. If I work up the nerve to talk to someone (which is rare), and we actually do end up having several things in common (also rare), then I'll gra-du-al-ly come to think of them as a friend. And I probably won't trust them. Yet.

So, the problem with Facebook, was...

EVERYBODY WANTED TO BE MY FRIEND!

I saw a few of my friends when I joined, so I sent friend requests to them. And everyone on their friend lists who knew who I was decided to return the favor to me! There were people who, yes, I knew from high school...but we weren't friends! We barely spoke to one another! But apparently that's what you do if you know someone on Facebook--you call them a friend!

No. No, no, no. No.

"I know you" =/= "friend"

I am very particular when it comes to that sort of wording. Don't call someone a friend unless they ARE a friend!

Grr! Rant over!