I mean I wouldn't use Facebook ever because it's just a place where drama happens. I see it all the time on my friend's Facebook. It seems pretty unavoidable because there are way too many bitchy girls in today's society that feel the need to start drama all the time. I'm not saying it's all girls or girls in general. Guys are guilty too, but being honest it's just those girls that think the whole world revolves around them when it doesn't.
You've said that before, and I frankly don't understand the sentiment. People get a bunch of drama because they aren't using the website right. The
only people you should even be seeing on your facebook feed are
your friends, and possibly any groups you've joined. Your friends shouldn't be causing a ton of drama, and if they are, perhaps they're not very good friends after all? Too many people get on there and 'friend farm'... I know people who have like, a thousand friends, and it's just stupid. It's not a competition.
I use Facebook. It's a great way for me to keep up with my friends from high school and college, since most of them have moved away and live in completely separate cities/countries. I post my art there for them to be able to see it, and they post projects and whatnot they're working on; the large majority of my friends are artists or costume/theater technicians, so it's nice to keep up with what they're doing. I can also see what family are up to, in particular my mom, and I follow a lot of groups and companies as well, so I can see when they release new products, or start events, etc. None of the people I watch start drama or post things I don't like, and the very few that did I stopped following at the least, if not outright unfriending them.
I
have a Twitter, but I never, ever bother to check it though. I only watch game companies and whatnot, and I suppose if I actually used Twitter it would be useful as I would see when stuff is released, or they post a blurb about something. Twitter is kind of weird to me. It's too far flung of a social network, like shouting into the wind, but only really short sentences. The only time I've checked it in the past year was when Magic the Gathering: Online went down, and they always post an announcement on when they think it'll come back up.
Google plus is similar to Twitter for me- I have one, but I rarely use it. Being married to a tech person and involved on the computer constantly, I have one, but mostly because when you make a new Google email you get one now. Friends from his work do add me on there, but pretty much only so we can chat on Hangouts. :/
Tumblr though, is fantastic for artists, once you get used to the bizarre way the website is designed. It's definitely not intuitive at first, kind of like a blog, but not? But, once you've learnt your way around, it can be very useful.
Really, I feel like a lot of times when people say they 'don't like social media', it's not that they actually don't like social media, they just don't like the idiotic way a lot of people choose to use it. Social media is a tool and nothing else, and most of the problems you guys have listed are solved by unfriending/unliking the things that are bothering you. If someone's causing drama, or posting stupid things you don't want to see,
unfriend them. Following everything on a website is certainly not required, so you can cater the tools to do exactly what you want. And the ways you guys have said you use websites like Facebook (Like keeping up with your favorite bands, families and close friends) that's
exactly what the website is for. You're acting like you're 'doing it wrong', or missing out on something, and your not! XD You definitely don't have to deal with all the nonsense that you hear about to enjoy or use the website.
Not needing them though, I can understand. If I didn't have such far flung friends, or use a few of the groups there, (And prefer text based communication over phone calls) I most likely would not still be using Facebook. And if Tumblr weren't a boon for a lot of the communities I'm active in, I definitely wouldn't be there. Twitter isn't something I find useful, so I'm basically not there at all. Sometimes a tool just isn't useful to you.
I disagree. The reason I don't like social networks much has very little to do with the people (although I don't really get along with today's younger generations much), and more to do with the speed stuff is posted and the time commitments they seem to involve.
Basically, there's too much being too said too quickly, and I find it pretty difficult to keep up and then also post a bunch of stuff on a regular basis. Forums and blogs are a bit more relaxed and tend to be updated far less regularly, so you can keep on top of things easier.
The fact many of them focus mostly around small talk, jokes, short comments and other fairly meaningless content doesn't help either, since I have no interest in that. A good article is depressingly rare in today's era of fluff posting and appealing to the lowest common denominator.
