It took me a long time to get on facebook and I found that I am able to get back in touch with friends from high school, work, etc. I can share pictures and information with them easily on facebook and don't have to worry about sending or receiving photos that are too large and might fill up someone's e-mail. There are some things I did turn off on my page such as the places option where it would state that I am at a restaurant, school or wherever. I think this happens when people have the phones that connect to facebook (I don't). It is an option one can turn off since most people wouldn't want others to know that Ithey are not at home. I also only share my information with "only friends" so people who are their friends and not my friend cannot see my information. I have also removed "friends" who in my opinion post things that I think are not appropriate for such a public space.

You can sign up and if you don't want to continue with facebook, you can shut your page down. I don't think you're being stubborn by not getting onto facebook, but you might want to sit down with someone who does have access to it to take a look at the options that are available and see how easy it is to use it. Then decide whether or not to sign up. I only signed up in the last year, so it took me a long time too.

No Jim. You are not alone.
You're an old fuddy duddy like me. I also refuse to do the face book thing. I don't care to 're connect' with anyone from my past. There's a reason we lost touch in the first place. :)

My friends still email, call, and even drop by in person to visit.
Those who don't are not my friends--they are people I have met or crossed paths with at some point in my life.

I'm busy enough with what I got.
:)

My 2 cents worth.
I guess I'm an old fuddy duddy too. I have a facebook acct that I check about 1 time a week. I tell everyone to send me a regular email, they will get a faster response. they tend to hound you to death to play the silly games with them, like that's the only thing on earth that matters.
princealbert (pa)

I joined Facebook because my grandkids said I should, but I found it too busy and distracting so I withdrew. I don't need to know the details of what's going on in everybody's life that wanted to be my 'friend'. Life is much more peaceful without it. If there is something I really need to know somebody will call or email to tell me :-)

Thank you all for responding. You pretty well reinforced my decision not to join. I don't have time for another 'hobby'. I really don't like the idea of people requesting that you 'friend' them. How could you say no, or even ignore the request, without hurting someones feelings? Then to have to always remember who is out there reading everything you post seems like an aggravation that I just don't need. The weirdest part is relatives, who used to email often, now are continuously asking my kids, on their facebook pages, about us instead of emailing us. It's as if they have forgotten how. I recently told my son, that the next time they ask about me, his only response should be to ask them if they still have my email address.
Jim

Yep Jim. I was at a meeting last night for a dance event I work on every year. I'm one of the few who doesn't do face book.
They're all trying to 'explain' it to me... They don't understand that I'm perfectly happy with out it and I don't care. Anything important happens and someone will let me know about it. :)

I don't want to be a part of something so JR High. Its just silly and a waste of time. Besides, there's so many out there I just don't want to interact with. There's too much trauma and drama and nothingness to wade through.

Not to mention the security risks.

I was resistant at first, but now I have integrated it into my daily routine. I do still email those not on Facebook and post to forums and even call friends occasionally and see them in person. I am one who has little spare time and it is easy for me to hop onto the computer for a few minutes and see pictures that my daughter in Florida has posted of my grandson or get the latest news from my son and daughter in law that are vacationing on the west coast.

There are specialty groups on FB (Morning Glory Lovers is my fave) and I go there to see the blooms all my FB friends are posting pictures of. Many of the posters are folks that also frequent forums. About people trying to 'friend' you that you don't know.... I think most of that is people trying to get people to play the games. You can always block those game requests, you just have to explore the privacy options.

It is what it is, just wanted to offer a different viewpoint. Not trying to push anyone into doing anything that they don't want to do ;-)

Pam

Mel, I think I'm at about the same place you are with face book. There was a time when it would have really bothered me to be left out of the loop, but I kind of live in my own little loop anyway. Our kids are all here close and we see them at least once a week. My 10 year old grand daughter constantly texts me, to the point of annoyance at times. Ha! Especially during my nap, when she texts "Hi Papa."

Thanks Pam, you and Denise both seem to be reasonable about face book, instead of totally consumed as some are. Thanks for your point of view.
Jim

i joined it to keep updated on the grands and great grandson.

People do some crazy stuff.."I will be in boston this week"
so any one who want's to beak into my house feel free to do so.
after they posted their address on there.

I share pictures on facebook, limit how many "friends" I accept,never text (why type on a tiny keypad when you can just talk?), and snail and email people. I visit if they're within driving distance.

I guess that I hate being on the phone because all of my work is over the phone ;-)

I'm in the same category as Mel and Jim....... I can barely keep up with my emails and gardening webs......and as Mel pointed out, I have no need to "connect" with anyone I am not already connected with. It is just a matter of what you like, and for those of you who like it, wonderful.........but for those of us who do not, we aren't wrong, just different.

PKponder, you must have better eyes than me! LOL!

nope PJ, just wear really strong readers :-)

I guess I'm an exception - I love Facebook ... it's much easier to share photos than any of the forums, and it's an easy way to see what's up with family and friends.

But then I've recently moved away from most of my friends so I'm desperate for updates.

Living 1,000 miles away from family, Facebook makes it easy to share information with all of my loved one. I keep my stuff limited to close friends and family.

FB used to be easy and a great way to catch up with my friends and relatives scattered across the planet. But as they update more they've made it less user friendly. I don't want to work that hard at anything unpaid!

Face it, when you're on FB it is not "free" we are employees of FB neatly putting together tons of information for them to sell, how do you think he became a multi-millionare? So I've mostly left and don't really miss it. When the boss treats you bad you find a new job, FB treats ya bad. I do log on for a few things but have found since leaving it, it used to be open on my browser while I was at work, I get so much more done, caught up on my e-mail, surfing to new sites, gardenweb...
TallyHO!

ah come it is not that bad,ha.
One correction though...He is a multi-billionaire

I have a facebook. Would love to connect with some of you there. I understand it way better than here, frankly.

Hi Leapingfroglady! You can find me on Face Book. Just search for Pam Keene from Texas.

I'm on FB, but only to keep up with family. Like Jim said, now some people seldom want to keep in touch other than social sites like that (and also texting, which I avoid like the plague). I do not friend anyone who is not of my family on the site, because the more "friends", the more time-consuming it becomes to check on the family. I seldom post. FB is a site that could possibly become addictive...maybe even dangerous. Be careful what info you put there.

I love Facebook. Most of our garden club members post on there so we share pics and lots of other things like garden events. Neil Sperry also has a page you can go to and he gives gardening tips and answers gardening questions.
I also find out what is happening with my kids since they post it on Facebook before I hear about it. lol

I personally don't use Facebook although I do have a Facebook account. I'm not much into photography and I don't have a lot of extended family so for me, Facebook doesn't make sense plus I'm leery of having my information gathered and sold.

BUT I joined Facebook strictly so that my place of employment could have a Facebook page. When I did this, I had no previous experience with Facebook. After a week, when I logged back in, I noticed a huge number of people who wanted to "friend" me and I certainly didn't want to be unfriendly so I decided to friend them all. After about the 250th friend, I received an e-mail from Facebook telling me I was banned for two day for "friending" too many people. What the heck? It's a social network but they control what you do. I learned afterward that Facebook considered me a potential spammer, but still...Apparently you can have too many friends. :-)

Now, I don't go back at all. I let my boss handle Facebook since he's co-administrator.

I only friend my close friends. There were lots of people I didn't even know wanting to be friends but I ignored their request.
I also only give out my name and nothing else for personal info.

I'm revisiting this thread and wanted to let you all know that I still use Facebook and have found it is a good way to promote community groups like garden clubs, environmental events, etc. that I am involved with in my community. Once you have your own page, you can create another page under your id for your community group or event. Just wanted to pass that along.

My family is on three continents and in both hemispheres. facebook is a blessing to us.

Hoping some of you join me at Frog Lady's Garden Friends on Facebook. It is only for San Antonio and surrounding area gardeners and newbies, too. We are at 47 members. If this is something you would like to join; send me your email and I'll friend you. It is a private group so it isn't open to just anyone. I have met most of you at the bi-annual plant swap.

I like to change all the settings on my fb account and screw with their stats, like this month my birthday is 1-1-1900! I change my status, dislike things, like everything-I got a message I was "misusing" this feature!, delete every posting to when I first joined..

It is a good way to keep up with the family and friends scattered around the globe but it is annoying.
Tally HO!

I joined Facebook because lots of family members have accounts and it's a good way to stay in touch.

The gardening info on facebook has been very helpful because I belong to garden groups that are specific to our area.

I decline friend requests on a regular basis. I also use the "close friends" setting to cut through the clutter.

Facebook doesn't want to give their users too many options. I'd like tons of more options, with a lot of control on what shows up on my feed and what does not. So far it is difficult to do that, even though I'm using whatever limited settings options they do allow.

I like facebook for the quick response you get from people. Plus, I really do struggle with this site. I'm not sure what it is. I kinda like have a photo to look at the person you are speaking with for one. Although my photo right now is a frog teacher on facebook.