Why I'm Not on Facebook

Facebook has enabled a new kind of predator, a social predator. These people use the fact that most people on Facebook are good people. They use other people's desire to help, to further their own agenda (for self-aggrandizement, financial gain, notoriety, revenge, or to spread lies and smear other people that they have a “score” to settle with). Facebook allows people to say things “privately” to their “friends” so nobody calls them on it. Nobody researches it. They can instantly un-friend anybody that disagrees with them, or uncovers their lies. Most people on Facebook don't want to be considered “rude” and/or they are busy with their own lives, and don't really care about yours, so they won't say anything “bad” or “mean”. It is the perfect situation for a sociopath, because they can live in a world where nobody will contradict their view of right and wrong. I know a woman who is a “super-Christian” on Facebook, but in the real world is a foul-mouthed, drug-using, irresponsible, burden to her aging parents. I know a man on Facebook who represents himself as a loving, caring, Christian father who has been wronged by THREE ex-wives. Seriously, three failed marriages. What's the common denominator? Hmm. Caring Christian fathers don't make their daughters sleep in their beds.

I choose not to be on Facebook. My blog is public for anyone to view. I am posting my opinions and including links to some of the facts that helped form them. Do I think that Facebook is bad? No. I understand the convenience of Facebook and far-away relatives, but I choose to talk to my friends in person and on the phone. If you only know someone through Facebook, then you don't really know them. Most people on Facebook probably really are who they say they are. Unfortunately, that makes Facebook an easy place for predators to play.