For years, I resisted in signing up for a LiveJournal account. I don’t really know why, other than the fact that so many people I already knew were already there. I didn’t necessarily think it was a bad thing, but for some reason, I resisted in joining something everyone else had joined. Eventually, I did join, and to no surprise, it wasn’t the end of the world. It was a pretty good way of keeping in touch with some people.
For years, I resisted in signing up for a MySpace account. I don’t really know why, other than the fact that so many people I already knew already had their own. I didn’t necessarily think it was a bad thing, but I disliked how commercial, how ad-ridden, and how plagued it was with shitty musicians, spam-bots soliciting shitty webcam sex girls, but a lot of my friends were there. Eventually I did join, and to no surprise, it wasn’t the end of the world. It wasn’t as good of a means of keeping in track of people, but it did serve its purpose somewhat; the last time I heard from MySpace, someone named Jose had simply assumed my account, despite the fact that it was free for anyone to get their own. Good riddance?
As of this past weekend, I broke down the latest resistance and signed up for a Facebook account. And to no surprise, it’s not the end of the world.
Literally for at least two years now, I’ve been implored and asked to hop aboard, and I’m not entirely sure why I resisted so hard. I suppose there’s a facet of my personality that simply resists anything that numerous other people are into first and foremost, even if it defies a lot of rationality. Literally 99% of the people I know are on Facebook, and Facebook clearly has risen and doesn’t really show much hint of an eventual downfall like its predecessors did, and it made a lot of sense if I hopped aboard, but I just didn’t.
Part of it had to do with the fact that I simply thought the whole idea was kind of invasive and a little too Big Brother-ish for my liking. I kind of still do, to be perfectly honest. Part of it had to do with the fact that I thought the whole idea of it was the death of web individuality, and the fact that everyone seemed content with being cogs in a gigantic machine, instead of building and creating their own things, namely, websites. The personal website is kind of a dead concept, which is why I so dearly hold onto my own brog, and treasure all the words and content I pour into it, because it’s living proof that dedication to something can keep it going for years and decades.
But all things considered, the world was moving on without me. Whether I liked it or not, minded it or not, the world was moving on, and because I was not on Facebook, I was getting left behind. The rest of the world, from my friends and acquaintances, celebrities, professional athletes, organizations from Little Jimmy’s PTA all the way to entire corporate entities were aboard the Facebook train. This was not a fad that was going to falter and disintegrate like all the others ahead of it had.
No man is an island, if I can continue on with these cliches. It got to a point, where I simply grew exasperated with being one. I’ve missed weddings, countless social gatherings, and entire events, because I wasn’t on Facebook. There’s nobody to blame for it except for myself. It was never the responsibility, but the charity of others to keep me in the loop, and they were never to be held accountable if they didn’t pass some potentially interesting information my way, and I never did.
The last few months were an internal battle between two facets of my personality, where the resistance wanted to keep itself going, like it was some kind of living breathing creature, while the other wished to embrace the advancement and go side with people I knew for a change. A little melodramatic, sure, but I’ve often made the analogy that my resistance to conform was like a pet that I had birthed and raised like a beloved pet, and it got to the point where it was old, cranky and had Alzheimer’s, and stressed me out and upset me more than it made me happy, but I simply didn’t have the heart to put it down.
But even pets reach a point where they’re simply more burdensome and a cause of sadness and disappointment, to where even the most loyal and loving of owners need to put them to sleep. And with that fitting analogy, I have put my silly resistance to sleep, and am ready to actually join and conglomerate, with the rest of the world.
Ain’t that some convoluted sappy bullshit?
