Friday, December 4, 2009

Must say goodbye to FB.

by Hermilia C. Banayat-Nas
(3rd post)

At first I was just annoyed. To the nth level. Now, I am just scared.

Social networking is not really my thing. I opened a Facebook account only 8 months ago, during the sembreak and only because my younger sister was hyping about how cool it was. I thought then that FB was more interactive than I have expected: you may/can/have to stay online all the time if you want to be [network] socially visible.

I reconnected with Nick--not true name--last August. Nick was introduced to me more than ten years ago by my ex-boyfriend (now husband). They were barkada and even house mates. So when I saw the friend request I thought: Cool. After all these years I hear from a college friend. And clicked on "Confirm Friend."

While I am not always online (surfing is minimal) I can see that it was the opposite with Nick. Nick would post comments on my status messages and links only seconds after I post them. I see that this person is extremely active in Facebook. Nick, a rich bum, posts punctual comments on feeds posted by each and every one of our common friends. I did not want to be rude and I tried to keep up.

Because we knew each other for a long time, and as "real" friends (so I thought), by now Nick has my mobile number and email address. Because of this I have been forced to stay Invisible even for YM because I can't avoid Nick's persistent buzzing. It was so annoying. When I do not recognize his comments or if I ignore his IMs, Nick would think I am mad and then sends really long emails apologizing for imagined improper comments.

Last week, after an incident, I told Nick to back off: stop texting, sending me paranoid emails and PMs in FB. I just thought it was too much that I be made to explain my status updates to someone who is no (emotionally) important to me than my other friends online. Come on, instrusive at its very core.

So now, for the sake of privacy, I will say goodbye to Facebook. To my 748 friends, at least one a psycho, goodbye. I am sorry but I cannot live feeling stalked.

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