Saturday, March 7, 2009

Facebook-Challenged (Oh, the shame!)

I was the second-to-last human to get a cell phone. I use it for outgoing calls only. And rarely. My phone is 3-4 years old, and it doesn't have a camera, or internet. But I've been computing for 25 years, and I've been on the internet for 15+ years, so I'm not a complete computer idjut.

But don't be fooled by the fact that I managed to create this blog (with Kelly's help) and add to it with links and pictures. I am definitely a blog neophyte, and a link/social site virgin. I don't twitter. I don't technorati. I don't Digg. I don't RSS, although I think Kelly helped my blog to do this, or be this, or whateverrr. I don't LinkIn or LinkedIn. I don't FeedBlitz or FeedBurn. (Actually, I think I Feedburned, or Fedburn, but I didn't understand how or why.) I don't SlashDot. I don't Deli.cio.us. I don't MySpace.

And now for the shameful part: I don't Facebook.

I've tried. And yes, I know several dogs who do, and I've tried and tried. And I've given up. Until someone walks in the door, and stands over my shoulder, and walks me through, step by step, I have absolutely sworn off of even trying. Because I have been perilously close to hurling this antique laptop right through the window, and I can't afford another computer right now.

P.S. Has Google bought Facebook yet? I'm very wary of all things Google, although this blog is hosted through a Google-owned service. It's the 800lb gorilla of the computer world, and it really hasn't reassured me that my information is safe and/or private. Why is it still saving every search I've ever done?

3 comments:

Michelle said...

oh so funny...as far as I know, google has not bought Facebook (yet). But Facebook is having it's own issues with what it does on the info it collects. If you do make a profile, let me know and I'll be your friend!! (Amy W and Ang are on there too) I don't use my last name on Facebook, and hubs uses his whole Kahuna alias thing.

La Cootina said...

My brother's DOGS are on Facebook. I've registered, I sign on...and then I can't do ANYTHING. It's ridiculous...and yet I've sworn off trying until someone takes me by the hand and shows me what the #@!! I'm doing wrong. I don't even want to pursue something that makes me feel this stupid, yet everyone acts as if the world will stop turning if I don't get on Facebook.

Margaret said...

Well, okay, I confess: I was THE last human to get a cell phone. So...I win!!! :-) Mine is a dinosaur-aged Nokia, one of those big clunky heavy things (camera? hah! Internet? hah! But I have a big screen and big keys), which is, however, spectacularly easy to find in my purse whenever needed...uhm, about once a year. It is always turned off, I don't know my own cell phone number, I use it only in emergencies to call my husband ("what kind of fish do you want for dinner?"-type questions: real emergencies, that is)...'course, it would be helpful if I charged the battery now and again! ;-) I keep saying that my cell phone is turned off all the time because I want to save the honeybees, but nobody believes me...

As for Facebook, a few years ago some myeloma list friends cajoled me into trying it, so I finally (after months) gave in to their pleas and signed up...but I found Facebook so annoying and silly (sorry, I don't mean to offend any Facebook devotees, including my niece and cousin...) that I signed off after a short time. Ah, thing is, you can NEVER sign off Facebook. Or at least, I couldn't. I tried, and tried again, but kept getting a message telling me that Facebook would "keep" my profile just in case I changed my mind in the future. I was unfortunately unable to find and click on any "I WILL NEVER CHANGE MY MIND ABOUT YOUR @%$#bleep! WEBSITE" buttons. Very frustrating...annoying...

I don't twitter, either. In fact, I don't do most of the things that YOU don't do. We must be kindred spirits! :-) My blog IS registered on technorati and a few other website directories, and I also have Google Analytics to see how many people read my blog...but, other than that, nada de nada!