There are a number of reasons for my decision to de-activate my account for a week.

The final straw was another unnecessary argument with a very good friend, which would not have happened had the conversation taken place face to face, or on phone.

However, I feel that it is an impersonal and inaccurate a way of communicating, and many people have come to rely on it, and I am guilty of that reliance.

Countless times I feel that my status updates or comments have been taken completely out of context and that my identity may be mis-represented due to the nature of the communication.

Whether that is my fault for how I use Facebook, or Facebook’s fault for how it uses me, I don’t know.

But I think unnecessary damage is being done to things that I value, that wouldn’t have occurred without Facebook.

Which is why I am experimenting with a temporary de-activation of my Facebook account.

I suspect that there are some people who will think this is a cry for attention – it is not. It is my communication experiment.

And it also a challenge, as my friend Neil said if I can go without Facebook for a week, he will go without cigarettes for a week (his week starts on Monday, mine today).

I am doing this as a positive thing, and I hope you see it in this light too – if nothing else then I will get more work done!

But I will be back, in a week (unless I am truly addicted?!), as Facebook is a very useful and informative tool. I just want to see what I will learn in the mean-time.

It’s an experiment, and I am going to enjoy it, I hope you do too :-)

So far I have survived ok. There have been numerous times when I really wanted to update my status, especially to say that I am frustrated that I cannot update my status!

It would have been useful to get a list of names for the concession list for This is Techno, as I couldn't remember who had said they were going.

Also Shaun wanted to send me a message on there but had to resort to text.

That is all I have to report so far.

Oh and I probably did a bit more work than I would have otherwise done. And I am now spending less time procrastinating before going out, than I would likely have done.

dude, update your status on twitter! then you dont get all the baggage that you get with FB

I've progressively lost my affection for Facebook since I got back from Thailand. I didn't use much of facebook out there and it made me realise how crap it actually is..

I very rarely go on there anymore.

Twitter is definitely the way forward and even tho i was a bit sceptical with it at first and thought to myself "what's the point?", not that i've started using it, i'm hoooked. It's great especially to use on your phone.

Much better than facebook. More of the good stuff and less of the crap

btw, whats ur twitter name robin?

robinibiza
:)

Yep I'm experimenting as well with you James. De-activated yesterday.

I have to be honest, I got bored of all your(and others) EMO status updates and removed you from my news feed in the end :)

Its been great so far, one thing about facebook is you end up trying to think of cool status updates in your life, sometimes making decisions based on an update rather than normal life which is stupid but probably true for a lot of people.

Also it annoys me people inviting me to events I have no interest in, or suggesting a fan page 20 times over the course of a year. Just a tip, if you remove a couple of "promoters" from your friend list, facebook gets a lot more personal and useful.

Oh and don't get me on to people who have 1000+ friends that they have never met just to promote themselves.

Oh and the fact you cant unsubscribe from conversations in your inbox.

Oh and the constant changes facebook decide we need every year that add nothing to the site or its usability.

/rant

Well said Zag..

Totally agree Zag. though right now I really feel the need to tell everyone just how hanging I am, and just how bad an influence me and Benski are on each other when there is alcohol involved. And I would really like to know what happened after the 3rd pub on our pub crawl and how I got home!!!

You lot must have better stuff to be concerned with !!! Jesus.

Good times James :-)

well said ben, i think you all take this way too seriously

Good times indeed. Any idea how I got home last night? I think our last stop was Crack Cottages???

God knows. Your final stop may well have been Crack Cottages but I think Walkabout and Mango followed for me.

Hmm, Walkabout, I think I might have gone there actually.

James,

Two words, Jimmy Bullard.

Chris

p.s. What a result, the boy could keep you up?

I think we have the players for a top half finish, but it is whether Phil Brown can get out of his ego and back to being a good manager that will be the biggest influence

Life has improved :)

Might do this for a month.

My life is definitely better without Facebook. I nearly logged in by accident just now, but saw the error of my ways just in time. I think I will go back after my week is up, but use e-mail, telephone to communicate where I have the option. The only thing I miss is updating my status, but when I go back, I will endeavour to cut out the negative ones about me.

That's exactly why you need twitter!

Yeh use twitter, it really is a much better platform to update your status.