Some compelling reasons not to use Facebook…

In a Nutshell: 10 Reasons To Be Anti-Facebook (In No Particular Order)

1. Facebook does not enhance friendship.

Facebook is a catalogue of faces, nothing more. Yes, it cannot be denied that Facebook might help one stay vaguely in touch with a far-away friend. But Facebook is utterly hollow at its core. Virtual poking is nothing when compared to a real touch; a phone call is so much better than a click. Facebook may make one feel content and ”up to date” after a few clicks and comments, but that is mere deception.

2. Facebook promotes the loss of civility.

Facebook fosters an autonomous, nihilistic attitude toward one’s surroundings and, in fact, reality itself. Facebook encourages one to become tethered by the overload of information streaming around and to him on the site. It becomes harder and harder to focus and live in the real, non-virtual world. As more and more time is spent interacting with others in such a distant and remote way, the traditional forms of communication cannot but be lost. When the virtual world becomes a primary tool of pleasure, civilization must feel the blow.

3. Facebook is a time-sucker.

What Dr. Jeff Mirus says about Twitter I would also say in regards to Facebook: “In most cases it is just another way to waste time by living not in the real moment but in an unending series of virtual moments.” One blogger listed the following as an encouraging reason to acquire Facebook: “It is fun to waste/fill/kill time interacting w/friends by playing the odd ‘identify the famous actor as a child quiz.’” I must say it, and risk being dubbed a curmudgeon at the ripe old age of just seventeen: There are few dumber ways to waste time than by taking these inane quizes that seem so plentiful on Facebook. Anyhow, apart from that, Facebook consumes time that will never be regained, and some of us still hope that people have better ways to spend this ephemeral life.

4. Facebook, among other things, is killing literacy in our nation.

This exempt from an article on “postmodern moonshine” is enlightening because it adopts itself well to the matter at hand: “We deny the depth and intensity of the crisis… at our peril, for the attacks against proven standards in composition teaching and literacy studies are part of a larger campaign of demolition that is being waged by the left… The situation certainly is perverse, but there is nothing “bizarre” about the mechanics of intellectual subversion, and nothing has been hidden from our eyes about the goals of the academic left, which has openly declared its antipathy to the great works of Western literature, standards of good writing in composition instruction, and what Danny J. Anderson contemptuously refers to as “the illusion of masterable knowledge and meaning…”  – Steve Kogan

My point is not directly about postmodernism and certainly not directly about the academic left. The point is that literacy has sunk to a crisis in our  nation, and if our language continues to disintegrate… I am afraid we will not linger long. Facebook grotesquely takes advantage of this crisis; its very format lends itself to deconstruction. 

Simone Weil states that the true aim of education is to inculcate habits of disciplined attention. Contrast this with the endless and chiefly pointless series of virtual moments which the mind encounters via Facebook.  

5. Facebook indicates a lack of spiritual maturity.

6. Facebook indicates a mental adolescence.

“This absorption in ourselves, in celebrities, in personalities, and in useless distraction resembles nothing so much as adolescence.” -Dr. Jeff Mirus.

Unfortunately, Facebook is not an adolescent phenomenon. It is used by every age group, and is not even dominated by youngsters. Look at the statistics for the U.S. August 2009. While 65+ account for 2.9% of the Facebook population, 13 and under account for a mere .8%. There are just about as many 25-34 year olds in the Facebook community (24.9%) as 18-24 year olds (25.1%). A full 40% of Facebookers are 35+!

7. Facebook is Soap Opera LIVE.

Another unhappy aspect of interacting in the Facebook community is that one too easily learns more than he needs to know. It should not be gratifying to learn of the dirt of other people. Yet Facebook turns human lives into soap operas.

8. Facebook is an indication of the influence of peer pressure in our society, and a symbol of the loneliness of the modern world and breakdown of the family.

9. Facebook is an extensive, international networking system.

How do you feel about really concentrated power? By the by, safety guarantees can never be definitive on the web. Think of May 2009, when Facebook users suffered a massive phishing campaign launched by Russian hackers from servers in Latvia and China. This attack led to thousands of Facebook accounts being hijacked. But, more importantly, it is important to realize the colossal extent which Facebook has spread. It is a huge, international technological phenomenon… and that very thought makes some of us rather uncomfortable.

10. Facebook is a sham.

There is a mammoth discrepancy between endless chatter and having nothing to say. “Certainly, each major shift in communications media has a profound impact on culture… but shaping culture in various ways is not quite the same as having a message, and ultimately our endless fixation on the delights and distractions of modern media does a great deal to ensure that nobody has a real message to communicate.” – Dr. Jeff Mirus

This is just the beginning; more on this later!