Social networks depress me....

[BTM]

So, I decided to FINALLY sign up for Facebook.  Everyone's been telling me how it's way more awesome than Myspace, and all these kickass applications and games it has.  So, I go over there, and instantly start filling out a bunch of things.  (That's the first thing that bugs me about these things, it seems like it takes forever to really get "rolling" with them.  Maybe I'm just getting impatient in my old age.)  

After some basic info, it pops up with a list of people I "might" want to be friends with, several of who graduated with me in high school, and several more I don't likely recognize off-hand, but I found that to vaguely creepy (even though I know it's mostly likely just a simple search query based on our common graduation year.)

So, now, I've got a basic profile with some info, a picture, and well, that's about it really.  Added one friend from a group I already new, and I thought, "Okay.. er.. where's the cool stuff?"  Started searching through groups, and after the first two pages of just random crap (Heath Ledger deserves an oscar group, Twilight reader's fans group, the "If we get 3 million joins will do this or that" groups, the 1,000,000 Strong For Stephen Colbert group etc) I got bored and decided to come back to that section later when I have an actual idea for what type of group I'd like to join.

I then decided to go browsing the suggested friends list.  I managed to look up a few people I knew in high school, and wouldn't you know it?  The ones I've looked up seemed to be married and had kids (at least, I ASSUME those are their kids in the profile pic, that or they're just being creepy), not to mention one young lady I had a semi-crush looks way hotter today than she did back in high school (course she's Vietnamese and Asians always age pretty well.)  

And then the whole damn thing just started to depress me.  I mean, for starters, I don't really know these people.. I went to high school with them, spoke to them a few times, but I wouldn't call them friends.  I really didn't have any close friends that I went to high school with.  I was a bit of loner (not really by choice, I just didn't quite "fit in" with anyone... plus I had this problem with noisy crowds, so I tended to avoid the cafeteria at lunch time (bought my own lunch anyway.)

So, I'm not really sure what would even be the point of contacting these people even if I felt inclined to do so.  I mean, yeah, there's other people I'm curious how they turned out, but that's about it.

[HappyGilmore]

I love Facebook to a degree.  Mind you, I only have about 100 friends on there, and about 70% of them I see or speak to on a daily basis anyway.  There's a few others that I don't really get to see too often, so I have them on there so I can communicate better with them.

I don't get into all the 'games' on there, like Farmville or Yoville or whatever, but I do some other things on there.

[Paquita]

Aw! Stay with Myspace! Facebook is for suckers! .. and so is Myspace!  Ha!  Don't feel so bad!  They depress me too sometimes!  I go on there like MAN IM AWESOME IM GONNA MAKE TONS O FRIENDS!!!! and then no one responds to messages or friend requests or thinks I'm awesome.  However, I purposely want to avoid everyone I knew in High School.. I stayed friends with the people person I liked, but the rest of the people that I just "knew" I don't ever want to see again!

[Psycho Circus]

You have everyone and everything you need right here. 

[Mr. DS]

You have everyone and everything you need right here. 

Word!

[retrorussell]

You have everyone and everything you need right here. 

Word!

Agreed!
I have no real desire to MySpace, Facebook, whatever.  I do like making videos on YouTube and I have some friends/subscribers on there.

[SPazzo]

Honestly, the only reason I use Facebook is to talk to friends.  It's easier to add people as friends on Facebook then asking for their e-mail addy.  Plus a lot of people I know check their Facebook more than they check their e-mail.

Other than that it sucks.

[AndyC]

Yeah, Facebook is kind of weird. I find the games and apps annoying, I don't bother with the groups, and I only sign in if somebody has posted pictures or I get a friend request. I do like catching up on people I knew at one time or another. It's sometimes surprising. I got the usual bunch of friend requests from people who I didn't initally remember. And I got some from people I didn't expect to remember me (kind of flattering to find out I was noticed). And then there are the requests from people I remember, but didn't like. Some people are content to collect anyone they've ever known or shared a school with. I kind of prefer it as a way to keep tabs on family and people I really care about.

Facebook did answer a few questions I've had for years. I'm sure we all knew at least one or two kids we used to play with who just moved away at some time or other. It's not a big deal all these years later, but it's nice to find them.

Where it gets awkward is when you do find an old friend who moved away. What then? About a year and a half ago, I managed to connect with a guy who was one of my best friends for a year or two, around fourth grade. His family moved away. I don't think I ever heard where or why, but I had wondered from time to time over the years. Then I actually found him on Facebook - and it was the most awkward damned thing imaginable. I mean, here we are, grown men, some 30 years later - complete strangers. What do we do? Resume our friendship? We exchanged a couple of messages, mentioned a few mutual acquaintances and went our separate ways.

Facebook has its place, but I don't see how people can spend so much time on there. I feel no need to sign up for any of the other social networking sites. I have no use for Myspace, and I honestly haven't bothered to even find out what Twitter is. I just don't care.

[El Misfit]

don't mention facebook/myspace around me 

[Trevor]

You have everyone and everything you need right here. 

Amen to that, brother. 

I am on Facebook and the only reason I joined was to try and find some old school friends, which I have done.

[dean]

Stay away from the apps and the games, and just use it to keep in touch with people and you'll be fine.  I find it useful for a few things:

Sending short messages to people about silly things/short messages that just aren't worth texting.

Inviting and being invited to various events [its a good way of being organised; the event usually has the time and address in one convenient, hard to lose location.]

To keep in touch with people who I'd otherwise never have the time nor effort to call/text/visit, but can afford the quick moment in time to talk to via facebook.

[Mr. DS]

I frequent FB but I try to keep my friend list simple.  I only have about 50 or so.   I try not to accept friend request from people I went to school with just because I went to school with them.  I figure if I didn't talk to them in the past why should I bother now.  I kind of keep it to people I was really good friends with and family.  Although there are people on my list I question to as why I'm friends with them.  They are the people who usually update the most and I really get sick of them. 

[The Burgomaster]

I loved Facebook when I first signed up, mostly because it got me back in touch with people I haven't seen for years (and people I WANT to stay in touch with).  However, I don't spend much time on Facebook anymore.  I check in a few times a week to see if anything is happening, but I don't spend more than 5 minutes in there.

[JaseSF]

I'm on Facebook too but I'm hardly ever on there. Of course, I have added a few people from this site and a few other sites I frequent too and honestly some of them keep in touch with more than the old friends I used to know back in my school days but that doesn't surprise me...people are busy with their everyday lives or at least they well should be...I'd be more worried about someone who spent all day messing 'bout on Facebook playing silly imaginary applications and games. The cool thing about Facebook is those people can contact me if need be. Actually I do like a few of the games like Scramble and Word Twist but that challenges the mind more and those you can also play alone. Truthfully, I spend far more time here online even if sometimes I lurk more than post.