It happens all the time.
I’m scrolling through Facebook and I read something completely idiotic. This can be anything from someone posting about why the Confederate Flag is not offensive to people whose posts read as if they’ve never written a proper English sentence in their life.
“That’s it. I’m deleting my Facebook. I’ve wasted so much time on this godforsaken website. If I took all the time I spent on Facebook in my life, I would’ve had enough time to cure cancer.”
But for some reason, I can never bring myself to do it, once and for all. I think back to all the times I saw something on Facebook – or any social media I am somehow still a part of – and learned something new about a person, talked with my friends or saw a video that made me laugh.
Then, I think about all the times I look at social media on my phone when I’m just bored or honestly, want to look busy, when in reality, I’m looking at the pointless posts that consume my Facebook timeline. What am I supposed to do in those dire times? Look at the wall? Just sit there? I don’t think so.
I also use Facebook to stay in touch with people, or to contact people whose phone numbers I don’t have. In that way, Facebook is helpful and without it, I wouldn’t be able to contact some people, say for a group project at school.
A lot of clubs and organizations on campus have Facebook “groups” where important updates about meetings and events are posted. I’m in a few of those, and those don’t bother me. I actually appreciate being informed about these things so I don’t miss a meeting or show up to a meeting, even though it was cancelled. There are some groups that are a nuisance, namely the Class of 2019 page, which never fails to irritate me in some way. But overall, I would be out of the loop if I wasn’t on Facebook, which I think is problematic.
And let’s be honest with ourselves here. We have all stalked someone on social media, whether it be your friend’s new boyfriend or girlfriend, teachers or old friends. There’s some really valuable information on there! If I didn’t have a Facebook, how would I be able to do that? I would have to talk to them and ask some very deep, probing questions to find that kind of information out, which aren’t received very well by some people (especially people I’ve never met).
We have become so reliant on Facebook and other social media that those who don’t have accounts will be at a disadvantage. These lucky individuals who have escaped the clutches of social media won’t know what is happening with a lot of distant friends if they don’t make the effort to keep in touch. They will be out of the loop with their clubs and organizations and even worse—they will have no way to creep on people’s Facebook accounts. But, I’m sure these people have mastered the art of waiting silently instead of cycling through various social media accounts on their phones when they’re bored, which is something I haven’t quite figured out yet.
The saddest part of all of this is that out of all the times I’ve said I wanted to delete my Facebook, I’ve never even come close to doing it. To be completely honest, I’m not sure I would even know how to delete my account, even if I wanted to.
So, until I get past everything I will lose from deleting my Facebook for good, it looks like I’m stuck with reading asinine posts about how great the Confederacy is.
