Friday, 7 December 2007

Need to get out more

3 months ago I thought "No to Blog" and "No to Facebook". 2 months ago I said "Probably to Blog, but definitely no to FB". A withering critique of anyone aged 30+ and using FB by Shane Watson in some lifestyley section of "The Grandad" actually propelled me into publicly announcing to my friends and work colleagues: "No way am I going to join this infantile trend. I've got real friends. I don't need to collect virtual ones. And I've got a private life. What could there possibly be to share?"...

...Okay, you've guessed it, I signed up to both and one good friend, who laughed at me when I mentioned blogging and "facing", has also signed up to FB! She said it was for research purposes. Funny that because I used the same excuse. Someone I knew was developing applications for FB (and making some money, don't ask me how) and I wanted to see what he was creating but to do that I had to join. There's the rub. Once you have joined you are at least partially committed. Who wants to be a mere question mark? Load up your photo, have a poke and away you go.

Incredibly distracting? Yes. Contributing to the expansion of human knowledge through seamless digital communication? The jury's out.

What I find strangely reassuring is that the only people who have asked me to be friends (and vice versa) are people I know in the real world. So what is the point? Fun, I suppose.

Bring it on...

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