2008 Woodie Awards
Surprisingly, a Facebook-free life has its benefits
By Dan Klein
Rocket Web Editor
Issue date: 12/7/07 Section: Opinion
It all started on Friday, Nov. 9, 2007, at 2:33 p.m.
I clicked "deactivate account" and prepared myself for the frantic phone calls, questioning text messages and puzzling looks.
They never came.
In fact, the only person who approached me was concerned that I couldn't receive an invitation to a Global Warming "application." And that was between classes in Eisenberg two Tuesdays ago.
After my first week without Facebook, I didn't feel compelled at all to re-join. I thought to myself, "Self, why don't you go another week without Facebook?" So with that, I went another week without Facebook. Madness, absolute madness!
The dreaded Facebook Withdrawal Syndrome didn't take hold. Some have likened FWS's effects to those of drug or alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Of course, FWS is a completely made-up concept, but the idea of Facebook "sucking away your free time" is very real. Those of you without Facebook accounts have long expounded on the freedom from obsessively logging on to Facebook every five minutes. I think you Facebook-less folks might just have something here.
Once I made it past the first day of my Facebook-free two weeks, I found myself feeling less and less compelled to log on. I actually found more time to clean out my overflowing SRU e-mail account-which constantly warns me that I have exceeded my storage capacity-in addition to spending more "face" time with my friends rather than just messaging them or posting a "wall" message.
The experiment began innocently enough: I wanted to see if I could go some time without Facebook. The few friends and family who knew about this "experiment" questioned why I would do such a thing. I figured, "Why not?"
Facebook has strayed from its roots as a "college-only" social network. Back when a young Harvard student named Mark Zuckerberg launched what was then called "The Facebook," only a handful of colleges had access to the fledgling system.
Nowadays, anyone can and often does join Facebook because the powers that be opened up the site to those not affiliated with an educational institution. Many SRU professors have joined, as well as a small number of my (significantly older) relatives. In a way, those on Facebook feel "exclusive" to what amounts to an increasingly non-exclusive group.
I clicked "deactivate account" and prepared myself for the frantic phone calls, questioning text messages and puzzling looks.
They never came.
In fact, the only person who approached me was concerned that I couldn't receive an invitation to a Global Warming "application." And that was between classes in Eisenberg two Tuesdays ago.
After my first week without Facebook, I didn't feel compelled at all to re-join. I thought to myself, "Self, why don't you go another week without Facebook?" So with that, I went another week without Facebook. Madness, absolute madness!
The dreaded Facebook Withdrawal Syndrome didn't take hold. Some have likened FWS's effects to those of drug or alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Of course, FWS is a completely made-up concept, but the idea of Facebook "sucking away your free time" is very real. Those of you without Facebook accounts have long expounded on the freedom from obsessively logging on to Facebook every five minutes. I think you Facebook-less folks might just have something here.
Once I made it past the first day of my Facebook-free two weeks, I found myself feeling less and less compelled to log on. I actually found more time to clean out my overflowing SRU e-mail account-which constantly warns me that I have exceeded my storage capacity-in addition to spending more "face" time with my friends rather than just messaging them or posting a "wall" message.
The experiment began innocently enough: I wanted to see if I could go some time without Facebook. The few friends and family who knew about this "experiment" questioned why I would do such a thing. I figured, "Why not?"
Facebook has strayed from its roots as a "college-only" social network. Back when a young Harvard student named Mark Zuckerberg launched what was then called "The Facebook," only a handful of colleges had access to the fledgling system.
Nowadays, anyone can and often does join Facebook because the powers that be opened up the site to those not affiliated with an educational institution. Many SRU professors have joined, as well as a small number of my (significantly older) relatives. In a way, those on Facebook feel "exclusive" to what amounts to an increasingly non-exclusive group.
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