Anti-social networking is the bane of the internet. It's a lie that it causes us all to socialise more; IT DOESN'T. People take one another's constant availability totally for granted, as you're "expected" to be on facebook, and thought as rather odd if you're not. It causes me massive resentment, that and Twitter etc. The gigantic problem that we ALL partake in creating, but noone dares face up to, is this: EVERYONE wants to talk... or **SHOUT**, making themselves louder than the last man, to get heard above all the digital noise and throwaway, meaningless comments and general fakery.
Lot's of projection and falsifying of persona, cherry-picking the bits of your character that you hope will attract people, and leaving out all the REAL stuff - stuff that anyone GENUINELY interested in getting to know you *PROPERLY* would get to know anyway, and accept nevertheless, had they the gumption to delete their profile, step outside the front door and actually do ALL their socialising face to face (no, NOT Skype, but that's slightly better).
Facebook, twitter etc are all signs of a self-centric society, where friends and validation of one's character, actions and mannerisms by total strangers, is what is considered necessary by equally shallow (maybe not intentionally so) people. When you accept the hard realities - this is how online "socialising" has become, then you'll hopefully decide to delete your account also, and rid your life of this addiction.
Attention spans lessen as this crap propagate. My personal attention span is many time shorter whilst online.
I've owned "smart" (are you SURE?) phones, seduced by the geekery and shiny shiny screens, only to sell them after a month or so, having tired of all their show-offy "features", and realising that a PHONE is just that... a PHONE. Too much, guys, too much! Too much availability, too much being taken for granted, too much expectation, too much pressure to "conform", too much!!! TOO MUCH!!
If you open your door to guests every now and again, they look forward to the occasion, value your time, and enjoy their stay. If you "leave your door open", so to speak, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, people treat you with contempt. They know you're ALWAYS available, ALWAYS contactable, and with so many methods by which to contact you, they just resent your eternal presence, and won't bother with respecting you and your personal time & space. On the other side of the coin, BECAUSE people are contactable/contacted SO SO much, they, as my friends do (90% of them), WILL IGNORE YOUR COMMUNICATIONS UNLESS IT BENEFITS THEM to answer your calls, texts, whatever else.
I'm not a node to be connected to, information harvested from, and then connection terminated... I AM A PERSON!
TOO MUCH DISTRACTION! LEAVE ME ALONE!
Oh yeah... PS: Just deleted mine too. Had my finger on the trigger for nearly two years, and now, finally, decided my sanity is at risk, and NOTHING is worth that.
Familiarity breeds contempt. Allow people space to VALUE your time, not resent you.
