So many people ask me to “like” them on Facebook. When I am asked this I cringe… I just “don’t do Facebook.”
I know many feel it’s a great social platform and they use it to communicate their businesses and social networking causes… After all, statistics show that Facebook is the largest online social networking site.
I used to use Facebook, at least for a couple of years, but I bailed out, haven’t looked back and I really don’t regret it.
The reason why I don’t like Facebook (and subsequently dumped it) was due to a multitude of reasons…
One: People, close to you, get carried away, there’s too much drama and color. They tell everything – what they ate, what their kid did in the toilet, where they are going, they engage in colorful online disagreements, etc. I really don’t care to know what they are doing all the time or want to be part of the negativity in their lives. I know some people love that stuff – I don’t.
Two: I enjoyed, initially, hooking up with people that I hadn’t seen in ages, like people from high school; it was kinda cool. Then, I started to realize after a time, I really wasn’t friends with them in school – I didn’t really know them then and I don’t really know them now – it was all so false. Seemed people were grappling for NUMBERS – how many people followed them. So, I guess, the second thing I didn’t like was all the falseness and there seemed an abundance of it – from everyone!
Three: I began to realize how much PERSONAL information was being pumped into Facebook and I read stories and articles about how government agencies (and other undesirables) were using Facebook as a data mining site. That didn’t sit well with me and I certainly didn’t want to be part of the party. That actually sealed my decision to abort…
But, maybe it was also due to age…
Some more Facebook statistics shows that the average Facebook user is between the ages of 35-44 years of age and I left 44 in the dust some time ago…
Anyways, nowadays, when I tell people I “don’t do Facebook” it’s like a social faux pas…
People act shocked or dismayed; they plead with me to reconsider; they delete me on other social platforms. Over Facebook! Get REAL!!
I’ve lost friends, both virtual and real, because I “don’t do Facebook.” I find that totally unbelievable…
But I really don’t care. I don’t like Facebook and even though I politely tell them so, they don’t know how to graciously accept it.
So I ask, as apparently I do not know how…
How does one politely tell someone that you “don’t do Facebook“?
And, even more so, how does one do so, so that the other person does not go off in a huff, personally offended as it is, just because you don’t?
It’s a mystery to me but, obviously, people take their Facebook very seriously…
Hi. I was hoping to find better answers for this question since I, too, prefer not to be on FB. It seems most who replied missed your use of the word, “politely.”
When put to it I now respond, “I prefer not to have a FB account,” and leave it at that.
\What an odd world we inhabit!
I don’t do Facebook, because …
I have a REAL life.
And what I do in my REAL life is nobody’s business.
I don’t do facebook and I’m proud of that fact. Facebook craps all over people’s privacy and anyway younger people are now leaving it for other networks. Be PROUD you’re not on Facebook not ashamed! If people have a problem with it.. they have a problem!… it’s so not a big deal 😉
I don’t do facebook either. When asked why I try to explain that I prefer human interaction. I also do tell them that I prefer to live a more drama free lifestyle. I think that’s the statement that makes them upset. As if I judge them for having facebook. Which I don’t. To each their own.
Christina – You’re right – I don’t judge them for USING Facebook why should I be judged for not using it? Why can’t we all just get along, eh? 🙂
I don’t do facebook as well…..it is a breakdown of how we communicate, how we need to interact on all levels