bye bye facebook

Please welcome Sophie to the Velvet blog. Sophie is our newest recruit and today, announced that she was leaving Facebook. After the news last week that Facebook’s users, in the US at least, are starting to trickle away, we thought she should write us a blog about why. Take it away, Sophie…

Today I made a very, very important decision, life-changing in fact. Today, everyone, I have decided to delete my Facebook account.

My decision to do this has been met with a great deal of shock from my friends. This is probably something to do with the fact they’re used to me posting daily ridiculous statuses, such as: “turns out the MacDonald’s Drive Thru staff CAN hear you if you belch loudly close to the receiver – just in case anyone was wondering”. I am also an avid fan of stalking, writing on people walls, and posting (what I deem as) humorous photographs.

I have, of course, had to explain to all my friends why I’m leaving. (‘All my friends’ – are they really friends though?) I’ve come to the decision that I want real friendships, not virtual ones. The people who are important to me have my details, and know they can get in touch at any time.

Anyway, whatever happened to calling someone? Now all we seem to do is post things on people’s walls, mostly for the benefit of a third party.

I mean, for example, after a night out with Bob I might say, ‘cheers Bob, it’s been great, let’s do it again sometime’. But why do I then go on Facebook and write the exact same thing on Bob’s wall for the world to see? Probably to tick Bill off, who wanted to see Bob, but I got in there first. Sigh.

Facebook seems to have become the be-all-and-end-all (I refer you back to my opening sentence, describing this as a ‘life-changing’ experience). Have you ever listened to yourself talking about Facebook? It’s no longer: “Have you heard that Phil and Selma have been on five dates now?”. Instead it’s: “omg wtf Phil and Selma are even in a rel on Fb”. Similarly, it’s not, “I spoke to Selma and she’s gutted about her break up with Phil”. Instead it’s: “btw lmfao Phil and Selma have broken up on Fb, must be serious!”. Again, sigh!

In the final part of what has turned from a blog post into a bit of a rant, another particularly aggravating thing about Facebook is the adverts that I am targeted with. Yes, I am gay and, yes, I am in a relationship with a girl on Facebook. This doesn’t, however, mean that I particularly want to be targeting by a site selling ‘gay t-shirts’ to advertise my sexualty. Furthermore, surely being in a relationship on Facebook indicates that I am no longer interested in finding my perfect gay match on Tom, Dick and Sally?

So, there we have it. I feel like a massive weight has been lifted off my shoulders. In fact, I would even go as far to say I feel liberated. Sad thing is, I’ll probably write all about it on Facebook in 30 seconds anyway.