Most of the people I hear complaining about Facebook hate it, but don't hate it enough to delete their accounts.

Ask them why, and it's always the same bullshit: "muh frienz 'n fam'ly!"

I had friends, family, and fans on Facebook. My wife is still on that site.

I didn't let that stop me. Network effects are no excuse.

@starbreaker I quit facebook too, but the network effects aren't to be ignored. FB have been very successful at instigating themselves into the center of social activity for a lot of folks, and asking people to give up those connections is a big ask.

Also, it's particularly harder for people who are already being asked to do a lot of emotional labor to maintain social connections. Quitting FB is much harder if you're the "social representative" for your family.

@cercerilla @starbreaker
I've never had a facebook account, but I often rely on my friends who do have facebook accounts to relay critical university-related information to me from a facebook.. group? or sth...

Even some official announcements, when students and not employees are responsible for making them, are on facebook instead of e-mail, website, or RSS. Many things that used to have websites now only have a facebook page.
Surviving on university without using facebook is hard.

@Wolf480pl @cercerilla @starbreaker This is another reason why a Facebook account is so useful. It's not only huge in social connections, but organisational connections as well.

A great deal of grassroots activity within municipalities is organised via FB as well; not being involved there can mean you no longer can connect with other activists and advocates.

@ayachan @cercerilla @Wolf480pl

As useful as FB might be for activists, organizing on FB makes me nervous from an opsec standpoint. I don't believe that anything is truly private on Facebook. Not even private groups.

@starbreaker @Wolf480pl @cercerilla Also, look at it this way, Matthew:

Let’s say everyone in your town hung out at “Burgers & Malts” for connecting, but you decided “Shakes & Cakes” was better for all the right reasons. You may get a friend or two to join you, but the AnarchoPunk Rebel Alliance will still only meet at B&M

This is due to the social nature of humans; they gather in groups and tend to favour familiarity, so once something is established, that's how it tends to remain.

@ayachan @cercerilla @Wolf480pl That's not a bad analogy, but I would suggest that having everybody congregate in one location makes connection unnecessarily difficult because there are too many people trying to have conversations.

@starbreaker @ayachan @cercerilla maybe this is an introvert vs extrovert thing?

@Wolf480pl @starbreaker @cercerilla Not really. That whole entire concept is misleading anyway...and it promotes a social fallacy that only helps push a "normal" ideal on people.

The truth is that all humans are social. It's a part of their species makeup. Both biology and psychology will back me up on this.

This is a matter of not recognising--or acknowledging--the social element of leaving everyone in your life behind.

@ayachan @cercerilla @Wolf480pl Not all humans are equally social. Some, perhaps even most, people would die or suffer debilitating mental illness if placed in solitary confinement or were simply deprived of meaningful social interactions.

Others have or find ways to survive, if not thrive. It's not impossible, just damned hard.