Facebook Ban - The Descent

It's been almost a month since I've been back on Facebook, and I am still alive. I learned a few things during my hiatus, but the biggest changes came when I rejoined the herd.

I was hesitant to log back on initially. When the date and time came that the ban was lifted I was nervous about what would happen. I had been functioning happily without, but was curious about what was going on online without my constant presence and censorship. My fingers hovered over the keyboard, scared to type in my password. Then I stepped off the cliff.

The first thing I noticed was a complete layout change. Facebook allows you to sample their new layouts before fully committing. I didn't change over right away because I had bigger fish to fry, and needed a slow integration back into the matrix. I had almost 19 notifications, almost 30 messages, and 12 friend requests. How that happened in only 4 weeks is scary and surprising. It's not like I had been a hermit during my hiatus; I was out on the town more than ever reconnecting with old friends, sharing beers and cigarettes and dance moves.

Quite a few of the messages were from events so they don't really count. Almost all of the friend requests were from random men. Clearly they saw my most recent relationship status change, and hadn't read this post. I found the sheer amount of notifications I had to sift through overwhelming. I almost wanted to log back off and never go back. I had sort of enjoyed the peace and quiet. The simplicity of Twitter appealed more to me than the rabbit-hole that is Facebook. With Twitter there are no twists and turns that can lead you straight into stalking someone for hours. What you see is what you get, and I liked that.

After cleaning up my account from all the notifications, I decided I was ready for the layout change. Might as well make the choice before Facebook made it official. The whole switch over was overwhelming as well. The first week back on the drug I had no desire to check my profile. It didn't have the same hold over me as before. Maybe I had learned something from my hiatus?

Unfortunately that is wishful thinking. Classes started again and my lack of attention span led me to hover on my Facebook profile, searching for any form of distraction.

So the blog is back. No, I am not going back on another Facebook hiatus; however, I will continue with my social analysis of my generation's favourite pass-time. The following posts will include:

- Facebook Warfare

- Facebook Terrorism

- Pro Facebook

- Myspace to Facebook: The Renegades

If there is time, I will attempt a review on The Social Network, a movie about Facebook, and a commentary on how Mark Zuckerberg was given the title of Person of the Year by the New York Times for 2010. Up to this point I had refused to see The Social Network, as the idea of watching a biopic about Facebook made me uncomfortable; however, in the name of research I will watch it. The blog is back, so feel free to suggest other topics in the comments. I want to delve as far as I can into the social enigma that is Facebook addiction.