I’m really tired of Facebook.  One of the big problems I’ve always had with it is that everyone you friend is suddenly equal.  The kid you went to school with in 2nd grade is now at the same level as your best friend of ten years or you grandmother.  And people post the stupidest shit!

So I’m thinning down my Facebook friends list, and I’m doing it like this: You post something stupid, I’m unfriending you.  Simple as that.  Inaneness I can handle, but outright stupidity, no.  Post that the world is flat, you’re unfriended.  Post that astronauts never landed on the moon, you’re unfriended.  Post that G.W. Bush is the greatest president since Lincoln, you’re unfriended.  Post that you are “literally dying” to see the next Star Wars movie, you’re unfriended.

Family is safe.  I’ve got a few nephews who post some goofy stuff, but not stuff that would be categorized as stupid.  Besides, you’re stuck with family.  In-laws though….

I’ve suspended my Facebook account.  I didn’t go the whole way and delete it, but I suspended it.  I’m going to let it go a month or two and see if I really want to delete it, but right now I’m leaning that way.

I just hate Facebook.  I guess the real reason is obvious.  Facebook is for connecting with people and I really don’t want to connect with them– at least not the way Facebook does it.  People I know and respect either have no Facebook account, or do have one and never post.  Meanwhile my “friends” that I haven’t seen since grade school or in-laws that I see far too much anyway are constantly posting inane quotes, “Jesus loves you because” posters, neoconservative revisionist history, or internet legends so old that Snopes just laughs at it.

On Facebook, every comment, every opinion is equal.  Well, that’s not quite true.  On Facebook, if you have lots of “likes” then your opinion is worthwhile.  If a million people “like” a stupid thing, it’s still a stupid thing.

I’ve already reduced my time and efforts on Facebook, but I think I’m going to reduce my presence there further.  Facebook is annoying.  They have no problem spamming me with crappy game invitations and using my pictures to sell their ads, but I try to upload more than 10 links to my own page and I get denied the ability to upload for two days, because I’m abusing the feature.

There are a few people that I am glad that I can connect with via Facebook– people I otherwise wouldn’t be able to connect with.  Mostly the messages I see on my “news feed” though are from people I see everyday.  The people I don’t see often that I really would like to send messages to, aren’t on Facebook or don’t use it that much.

The web is always evolving.  I think Facebook has probably reached its peak and has begun its inevitable decline.  Anyone remember MySpace…. AOL…?  I wonder what the next great innovation of telecommunication will be.  Twitter is still on the rise, but I think there is room for something that offers users something new and cool.  I just don’t know what the new and cool is going to be.

I am reducing my Facebook footprint a bit.  This is the result of several things, one of which is an upcoming law in Nevada regarding teachers and social networking.  I am limiting my personal facebook friends to close relatives and friends.  If you would like to keep track of me on Facebook, please do so by “liking” my Author Wesley Allison page.  You can find it by typing “Author Wesley Allison” into the search window at the top of any Facebook page.  Thanks.