Facebook is just like drugs and alcohol; terrible in excess. And while FB is nice for avoiding people whom you would just say "hi" to and move on in public or [insert "avoid in-laws, your annoying aunt Myra, other reviled family member joke here], if you are constantly foregoing a face-to-face meeting with someone you would consider a close/best friend for FB chat, or substituting a date for FB banter, then it's time to reassess priorities. I look at it like this: phone sex is good and fine... but I'd never pass up the real thing for it.
What? Quitting Facebook is unrealistic? No, it is not. There is a perception that it is unrealistic, but it is very doable. People quit Facebook every day. I log into Facebook about twice a week. Only about 5-10% of the 'friends' I have on there seem to be very active. Maybe these are the miserable ones? It's pretty predictable stuff. Mostly from women and girls that I know. Kids looking cute, political statements, something they are doing for charity, on vacation, etc. It's okay. I'm not on there enough to keep up with invites or any kind of discussion. It's not a very good social platform. It seems to be more about sharing photos and things that you like. Not about engaging communication. I think Facebook better watch out for pinterest.com. They seem to have figured out what a very large number of people use Facebook for. Look at this: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/pinterest.com
I think it's mostly worthless. If you have nothing better to do with your life then talk about yourself and help others talk about themselves then it's probably a feast. I have thought about posting every book or album I read or purchase to FB, it would be more interesting then any "cgod has checked into a random shitty restaurant." Like most peoples blogs, I find that FB makes every one seem less like someone I wish I knew then having a real conversation with them. An odd thing, plenty of people I don't really care about have friended me on FB (this is aside from the real friends I have that have friended me), but the half a dozen people I would really like to reconnect with are unfindeable on their platform. I don't know if there is some kind of anti-FB quality in people I value or what.
So in effect, there are a ton of friends and acquaintances on there. A few months ago I was in NYC and wanted to hook up with an old friend of mine who moved out there, but I had lost her contact info. I logged onto Facebook, sent her a message, and lo and behold, 15 minutes later I get a phone call and we made plans to get together that night. Quite useful. For me, Facebook is pretty much just a social address book that populates itself instead of me having to track everybody down in real life, which I would never do. It's kind of a corner case, but that's what I use it for, and I won't delete it for that reason. Other than that though, it's pure hatred, and I'd love for everybody to be on a different service someday :)
I also didn't like how it really diluted the meaning of the word, 'friend'. People's friends lists would swell to huge numbers and some of them they would barely know at all ('we were at the same party this one time') or outright not like at all. I can see the benefits of having a service not unlike facebook, but for me at least the benefits seem to have become drawbacks.
It's kind of sad that when you are using a service just because you feel like you have to. I think that feeling creates a lot of resentment. I deleted my LinkedIn a few months ago, and it felt great.
Here is a funny story. One of my coworkers didn't show up at work one day, nobody could get hold of him. One guy at work thought about logging onto FB, and happened to find him there, he then informed him on FB that he was suppose to come to work that day. I guess FB can be useful to getting hold of those FB dwellers.
NO! Mr. Zuckerberg has opened a social frontier before you and proclaimed: "WAGONS WEB!" Live his vision! Stake your claim! There's gold in them hills! This is freedom!
We tend to think good times were old times, but that's hardly the case. Facebook has its flaws, but they don't come from its novelty. I use skype everyday. It's cheaper than the phone. We just didn't arrive at the point -- at least I didn't -- where webcam image quality and internet connection are so smooth to be barely noticed.