- It’s a time-waster, 6 hours a week? That’s just too much. You can’t possibly take this point seriously. Without Facebook , you just waste your time at other websites. One fewer site to check makes no difference.
- I’m all about nature, go-with-the-flow. Technology puts me off. Now, really? Where do you draw the line between pissing in a hole vs. modern pluming within the realm of technology? It’s hard to say that you’d rather be all-natural when there’s not a square foot of unlandscaped ground you step on all week.
- On the news, they say hackers and creepers can see your private information. In reality, the biggest security risk isn’t Facebook: it’s yourself. Learn to understand application permissions and privacy settings before you claim that Facebook is inherently less secure than any other system.
Here are, instead, things you should be legitimately concerned about:
- Maintaining a professional image is difficult with so much uncontrolled, irrevocable exposure. Teach your friends not to act like street hooligans where you can be connected by association.
- Facial recognition and tagging are used to create a single point of access to all images in your likeness, whether you’re into that or not.
- Envy and stress are not uncommonly encountered as a result of Facebook. The strong culture of showmanship to boost ones own ego creates both winners and losers. Be careful that it does not affect you personally.
- It is very difficult to move your data, disable or delete your account. Facebook historically has never been supportive of data liberation or free communication among social networks. They have lost their original nerd-culture and are becoming more and more political.
Using the service is not a statement of support for its practices, although Facebook users are all encouraged to participate in the exhibition of their lives. Use it if it benefits you. Don’t if it doesn’t.