Facebook: the height of mindlessness?

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Nope, I don't think so. My point was that I have a genuine use for facebook, and don't agree with you that it's all about posturing. For me, it's actually about keeping in touch with people who mean something to me. When I said "maybe I know more genuine people" I meant that the people I know on facebook are not there to show off what great lives they now have - they are there to keep in touch with people. You say that that isn't the case for the people you know - ergo the people I know are probably more genuine. Since you have insulted every single person who uses facebook I don't think I'm being unreasonable in defending at least a few of them.

I can't imagine why anyone over the age of 15 would expect people to be impressed by how many facebook friends they have - I don't think it's the kind of thing that people even notice about someone else's profile. Yes, I agree that a lot of the funwall stuff is rubbish - I usually don't bother to look at it and the slushy chain poems make me feel ill. But in the end it is just a tool. Facebook is not the problem. What people do with it may be. Likewise I don't see why it's a problem not to add applications you don't want. There are tv programmes I don't watch, books I don't read and hobbies I've never shown an interest in. By not doing these things I'm not "pretending they don't exist" - I'm just not using things that don't appeal to me. I don't see why this is any different.

Look at it from an NTs' perspective: nothing is more important to them than poeples.... if you give them yet another social networking tool, they'll use it.... and in fact, they'll only ADD it to thier arsenal.... poeples didn't stop sending letters when the phone appeared.... look all those little groups of friends at the mall, all texting each other on thier mobile, they still gathers together.... and as an aspie, it gave me a very good tool to communicate....

They did a study on the whole social networking thing...turns out that people still have the same number of core friends, the same number of aquaintances, and the rest are irrelevent.

I hate using the phone, find it very difficult, so facebook is helpful. I'm able to maintain certain friend/aquaintance-ships without having to directly interact with them. I don't feel as left out. It also helps in keeping in touch with my nieces and nephews. They don't have the time or interest to keep up with me on a daily basis...but leave me quick notes through the month. It's nice. I also have friends who live overseas...so again, it's easier to keep in touch.

Maybe it's my age, and how I use it. To me it's a substitute for writing a letter/email/phone call. And I have less than 20 people on my list. I have no interest in adding people I barely know.

I've never even visited any of the social networking sites such as facebook or myspace. Personally I see no point (for me anyway) but I can understand why it could be a useful social networking tool for keeping in touch with old friends who you no longer see due to moving or for those with mobility problems. However, from what I've read about such sites they tend to be used a lot due to peer pressure amongst kids, as in "if you aren't on it, you aren't cool". For me it's a none issue.

I got a Music MySpace page because I thought it was a good way to get my stuff out there and network. But then I realized I wanted to talk to people I knew IRL who wouldn't like my music. So I got a personal page. I don't use either very much. I enjoy making them look nice and changing the songs, but I generally don't use them for social purposes.

There are several things about social networking sites that freak me out:

1. Prospective or current employers or co-workers might look you up and find something to use against you. There are ways to avoid this, but the more sites you're on and the more you use them, the more visible and hence easy to find you are.

2. People use them for all sorts of deceptive purposes. Some people create fake profiles in order to promote their own music, t-shirt designs, porn, or whatever - these are basically sockpuppets that act like fans of whatever the user is selling. Some people create profiles just to harass people or promote their porn, or whatever. And probably more nefarious stuff I don't know about.

This is why I'm not getting into Facebook.

I've never been on them and I don't know anything about them. But I guess they're tools really, some people use them well and others abuse them. It's like a hammer or an axe, you could put it to good use or you could be destructive with them.

I made a myspace and made it really pretty and then that was that and then I remembered to check my e-mail about a month later and all these people had found me and sent me messages and more messages asking why I hadn't replied and then more getting angry that I still hadn't replied. I didn't know you were meant to talk to people on there, I thought you just decorated it and that was all
I tried it out but it was weird and scary so that was the end of my networking experiencing.

I once made a Facebook because im a moderator on a website and I had to check something out, three people that I know added me in four minutes and I got really scared and deleted it.


Its very frightening and stalker-like.

I have a Facebook. I keep it open on page 33 so that the nose can fit through the pages for breathing space.

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I'm not a great fan of social networking sites by nature. I don't have a Myspace, and I only use my Facebook for playing games and keeping in contact with relatives and a few friends. There was a reason why I didn't have much to do with my old schoolmates at the time, and I hardly ever talk to them now, even though I've added most of them.

As I said, I don't use Facebook much but it has some kickass applications as well as the dumb ones.

Edit: Might be worth listening to this.

I know the type of annoying facebook stuff and people some of you were talking about. Vampires, dumb poems, people posting drunken naked pictures. That's all lame. Luckily, my friends mostly aren't idiots so I don't have to put up with that.

That being said, I like facebook. It was especially useful in college for remembering names and faces of the people in my classes (I'm faceblind), and for contacting those people if I needed a homework assignment or something. I also like to occasionally browse and see what old friends are doing, where they live, their recent pictures. I'm curious about people from my past and I've even found a few people I haven't seen since elementary school. The cool thing about facebook, though, is I don't actually have to talk to these people!! ! I can skip the social niceties and the awkwardness of calling or even emailing someone for the first time in months or years, and just sort of catch up on their lives. They can do the same to me, if they care.

Another thing I use it for are sharing photos with a small group of close friends. If we have a get-together, its a lot easier to post the photos on facebook than emailing them to each other or making cds. We also enjoy making snappy comments and jokes on each other's pictures. Its a nice way to stay in touch when you don't have time for a whole email or phone call because you're out living your life.

I don't go on every day, and my status message is usually several weeks or months old. I think it said "Katie is hanging shiny things on the big tree" until February.

facebook only highlights the problems of everyday society in easy to read digital format. The trick is, you only add people who you actually like and can have intelligent conversation with. Don't add everyone who sends you a request. I do talk about science over facebook. And i've connected with other AS people in my University through it. It's a powerful tool, especially for Aspies like us, when it's used right. You can learn about the people you know without having to talk to them. it's a veritable Autistic's fantasy. And ignore or block the applications.

facebook and myspace suck!! !

I use to like it.

*shrug* I don't mind it; I have one, which I use solely to respond to a message or two that might end up coming to me (almost always about a group project). The inbox is much nicer than the phone, and I don't have to rush around getting everyone's emails.

The social things on it are largely ignored, at least for me. I'll join a group every once in awhile, depending on what it is, but I rarely do anything about it.

The comparing people things make me laugh. I was the third best companion on a deserted island for awhile, for God knows what reason; I don't know if they thought I could figure out how to get us off or what, but I'm definitely not much company. And how do you rate someone's smile? Is there a prettiness factor on that? I haven't seen the chart for it. They don't have categories that I can answer (invades personal space most often, loudest, ect).