Reasons Why I Facebook (and I refuse to tweet)

... and so thankful of this particular internet madness (necessarily in order).

PROLOGUE: FIRST, I am a writer: which means, I face my laptop like a driver takes care of the steering wheel, a doctor the stethoscope, the baker the rolling pin, the painter the easel and palette. SECOND, I am a voracious multitasking writer: not the kind of super-focused thinker who easily gets annoyed with “noise” or barking dogs outside the front window; when I write, I sometimes cook, paint, read, watch TV, listen to a concept CD—hence, when I am writing on my laptop, I usually open 5 windows (google search, gmail, yahoo, Facebook, and MS Word) and attend to all of these sites almost back-and-forth. THIRD, I haven’t experienced addiction to any stuff or thing, mental/chemical state or psychosexual kick (eg. I can drink White Russian or PBR any day of the week but I can chuck it for 12 months; I can smoke a cigarette stick but I don’t really smoke because I don’t crave for one; I am not into any particular food, I just eat whatever I cook or given me, as long as these are not poisonous). And FOURTH, I am already done with raising a family. I don’t have kids to fix a milk bottle, prepare book bags before the morning bus pulls up, hang out at the park for quality time. Twitter or Tweeter, whatever—doesn’t interest me because I don’t tweet every 15 minutes, or when I call people’s attention, I say a lot (like a writer does). I can do that via Facebook. Blahblahblah. Okay, here are my seven reasons why I do Facebook… necessarily in order.

[1] FUN, it is fun. I don’t take it too seriously as in—solely use this “social networking”—not as a device to preach a new religion or advocate a political ideology. For me, it’s like hangin’ out in the town plaza with all kinds of diverse madness, sociocultural banter, arts/music/poetry skirmish, and occasional chill out time with family, friends and relations. Nothing heavy.

[2] Instant, auto link with FAMILY and longtime friends. My immediate family lives thousands of miles, oceans and continents away… Constant sustained communication is expensive. Before, I spent huge money calling them long-distance (or through prepaid callcards), and yet we don’t get to share pertinent infos or detailed facets of our everyday life. Emails don’t do as much either… With Facebook, I am able to regularly update them about my daily life: the food that I eat, what’d I look like these days, who I am hangin’ out with, what’s my new poetry and gigs, where I live and what’d my room look like, where did I go last night. I am able to share these without giving away too much of my privacy or mystery: I don’t announce intimately private details here, ie I don’t post myself makin’ out with Winona Ryder in here, did I? But it’s fun to know that my childhood bestfriend (that I haven’t seen in maybe three decades) knows that I still listen to the Bee Gees and cooks my own food and laundry my clothes or actually mows the lawn.

[3] An inexpensive and AFFORDABLE "addiction.” As I mentioned above, I am not addicted to anything; it’s hard for me to be addicted with the internet since I work in/on it. It’s like working as a wine tester and tryin’ not to get hooked to it? Abstract, right? Anyways, Facebook is not sugar, alcohol, weed, Vicodin, amphetamine, cigarettes, sex, Krispy Kreme, or gambling. So, chill!

[4] Easy, UNSELFISH dissemination or sharing of infos and stuff and things to the world. You don’t need to go through websites and stuff and scheme through 500 words at a time, you know what I mean? I get to send news clips, video streams, links and URLs, and research materials to former students, nieces/nephews, buddies from other countries, and still able to randomly share these to others.

[5] Easy to connect with PEOPLE around the world. I get to see what’s new in Istanbul or Luxembourg or Hongkong or Nigeria, on a sincerely personal first-person way. I also get to know new recipes, new poetry styles, new outlook on pop culture, new passions…

[6] Unsolicited annoying advice and intruders are easily SNUFFED OUT, one click. Since I don’t use my page to engage people in an elongated, prolonged debate about issues of the day, I get to cut people out who seem to irk me or vice versa. In the real world, when an uninvited human being approaches you in a coffeeshop as you cram to finish a deadline or catch a poetic thought, it’s rude to snap out: “Hey, leave me alone, please!” In Facebook, you just click them out. They won’t even know it… unless she’s your girlfriend, of course.

[7] Instant PROMOTION and publicity. I get to share my new poetry or whatever I am producing or hosting or cooking or thinking. Imagine, a 17 year old girl in Romania and a 72 year old woman in South Korea read my love poems? How cool is that? And I don’t even know them…