Jonas Midstrup's Blog

I will start this post by telling you that I have a confession to make. Not a really nasty one I think, but for some it might seem quit odd: I don’t have an account on Facebook, never had and never will. There, I said it to the world. “So why is that?”, you might ask.

Before going into all that stuff about pros and cons about Facebook and other “social networks”, I will start out by sharing some experiences from my everyday life, my life without Facebook.

First of all a little data. I have been told recently that around 60% of the grown population (18-65) in Denmark, where I live, have a Facebook account (that’s around 2 mio. people). I don’t know if you can use those statistics. I heard for example once that one of my friends made an account for his dog. The amount of young people in Denmark that has an account and frequently uses it is declining. I have read articles in local newspapers (yes they still exist) recently about young people, after they admitted to be somewhat addicted to always checking their account has abandoned Facebook after realizing that there is other ways of talking with friends than through the Internet.

Almost every one of my friends still today have a Facebook account. When I started at my current study (Msc. in IT and business) little over a year ago and started to talk with my new fellow students, the picture was the same. Every single one of them had an account, so when I told them that I didn’t, they were quit stunned. How can a guy whose main interest is IT, don’t be on Facebook? I have always told politely about why I don’t use Facebook and realized when people think it through many of them don’t really have an explanation for using it and let it be a part of their everyday life. Some days ago when I was at my school for the first lecture in a new course, the teacher asked the class how many in the room had an account on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and so on. Again I was the only one that didn’t have an account on Facebook. The girl who sat next to me said: “Oh yeah! You’re the guy who’s not on Facebook.” Those info spread fast i guess.

My close friends some time ago stopped asking me when I was going to get on Facebook. I think it’s great to know that the friends who are close to me and have known me for many years, knows that when ever they would like to see me they phone me up, send a text message (SMS) or write on Messenger. For me that’s the way it should be. Of course, from time to time, there is events on Facebook that just fly past me, and that’s quit okay.

People would say, that I am both on MySpace, I have this blog and you have a profile on LinkedIn. Let me explain. On MySpace i tried for some time to publish some of my own music, but I haven’t used for a long time. LinkedIn is a way to show others my professional profile. It is purely professional and that’s what I like about it. This blog first started as a way for myself to keep a log of tips and tricks in programming so that I could find it again, when I need it. This has evolved, but I have some great articles lying on the programming subject that will be published when I find the time to finish it.

For me it’s quit simple. If you don’t have social contact with people in real life, what meaningful social interaction will come out of using Facebook and be linked even with people who I don’t need to be social with anymore? All the way through a person’s life, as the person changes so does his og hers social connections. Some you grow apart from and others changes their lives focus and thereby their social circle. There is a reason why you stop seeing people in the first place. The other thing is that I don’t need to be social all the time and share my privacy with the whole world. I like the fact that I most of the time on the Internet controls what private data I give away about myself. People always say to me that I can decide what private information I share on Facebook, but the sum of shared information from the time you start using Facebook and through to the time where you stop using it or “delete” your profile you have no control of where does information go and what they are used for. That’s a fact and it’s quit frightening for me and again and again I have seen evidence of the lack of security on Facebook. Some days ago I read that the Danish government stated that it will never be possible for the Danish citizens to contact the Danish government through Facebook. Who thought of that as an opportunity in the first place? I can think of many reasons why contacting the local government through Facebook is a really bad idea. And be “friends” with the government? No way!

Generally it’s not about whether social networks is a bad idea. Facebook doesn’t offer any value to my life so why use it?

All this considered with all the pros and cons in mind I think I have made a rationally right decision not ever being on Facebook. Now I will go out and be social in the real world with some real friends…