1. My Nephew – My 1.6 year old nephew is growing faster than anyone can believe. Unfortunantely being 3000 miles away does not allow me to see him as often as I would like. My sister posts about a million pictures a week of him on Facebook and its the easiest way for me to see the progression. That said, I’ve still have a travel budget to allow me to see him at least a few times year.

2. Jobs – Not necessarily for me, but my Dad got laid off recently. It’s kinda hard to think that for the entire time I’ve been alive my dad has held the same job. A few weeks ago, on the eve of Christmas, my dad was quietly laid-off. So for the first time in 25 years, my dad is looking for a job and I plan to help him in any way I can. Specifically, knowing anyone who knows someone who knows someone who knows of a job for my dad may be helpful.

3. You guys – While I tried to remain in contact with many of you via non-facebook methods, it was still difficult. My twitter usage went up which is good because Twitter takes up less of my time then Facebook, but its not the same info you can share on FB. Although, there was no disruption in communication with any of my really close friends, a few others missed out on a few things I was up to and likewise.

4. The 2009 Music Drive – Last year I barely worked on any music projects and I won’t let that happen again. This year I’ll be writing/recording a lot more and I plan to share everything with you all.

Facebook Rehab Observations:
So even though I’m “back” on facebook, I’d like to state that a few things I had said in my last post still hold true. First, I’m still upset that people don’t talk to each other in real life anymore. It’s quite the bummer really. People like to go out and still remain in their bubble. I believe this is a social side effect of how we behave in the online world and it has unfortunately invaded reality! Second, social networking in real life is much more powerful and beneficial. In the last 45 days I’ve met more interesting people then the 5 odd years I’ve had on Facebook. Essentially for the last 45 days my life has felt like the scene below:

In my 45 day-no-facebook-vacation, I learned a lot. There are very specific reasons why I’ve decided to re-activate my facebook account but I still don’t like it. I think if you are using it for pure “communication” and meeting new people I think there are better ways than Facebook. Use email and go outside if you want to do that. If you are using it for sharing content with your friends and loved ones, then I think its decent. There are more personal ways of sharing content but “I guess this will do.”

Unfortunately, the more we try to complicate communication this less we’ll communicate. Take for example, Myspace’s new user verification procedure you must use every time you log-in:

Um, I don’t know about you but I’m not going to log into a site where I have to verify whether or not I’m a human or a robot every time. That is lame. So maybe I’ll log into my myspace music account every two or three months now. Thanks!

Regardless, I really recommend the Facebook vacation. It’s really healthy and I feel a lot better about everything after this. Perhaps, at the end of 2009 I’ll do the same thing again. It’s a great way to check-in with reality.

Today, November 11th, 2008, I have decided to delete my facebook account. Yes it is true. I honestly can not remember the last time I learned something useful or connected with someone that I REALLY wanted to on facebook. Having a roster of “friends” I didn’t talk to in high school or college, doesn’t really help me. The very few friends I communicate with, will call me on my cell phone or visit me in person if they really are a friend. The social networking sites of today have literally stripped young people of their social skills. It has also created an ego-driven feedback loop where people strive to have more “friends” and appear cooler than their peers. It has also given birth to a new addiction that in its strive to bring people together, drives them further apart.

There are many arguments about the benefits of social networking sites. For example, if you live far away from the people you “know” you may justify the use of Facebook to keep in touch. The only problem with that is. Well … are you really keeping in touch? If anything you are further away or removed from that person than you could ever be. The person you think you are keeping up to date with may even have you as the furthest thought buried in the back of their minds. In essence, you create an imaginary world where you feel as if people REALLY want to be associated with you. 

According to a book I read a few months ago, Love is the Killer App by Tim Sanders, you need to go above and beyond the simple act of “friending” someone on a social networking site if this is your means of “networking”. You really need to connect with that person on a deeper level. Otherwise, you are just adding noise and distractions to your true networking potential. Your REAL-LIFE networking potential.

Wake up. Interact with the people around you. The next wave of Social Networking (Web 3.0-Non Internet Edition) will come about when the social networking of today is so overrun with advertisements that you can’t even read profiles anymore. It will come about when you feel the need to buy products you otherwise wouldn’t think twice about. It will come about when your personal information is captured by indexing software and used for highly sophisticated and precise background checks. It will come about when the feeling of isolation and loneliness is so powerful in our society that we are forced to actually make eye contact with one another.

Here is a collection of interesting Facebook videos:

 

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Related Article and Discussion found on Tech Crunch, here.
FB image taken from here