We Need More Alternatives to Facebook
To me, Facebook was cool when I was in college... when it first came out.  Was nice to link up with people I had classes with the previous semester but didn&#x27;t see much any more, look up cute girls from lectures, and learn stupid details like my friend Joe was into the same bands I was.<p>But... it instantly lost all appeal once my parents and grandparents joined.  I used it for a bit to keep up with friends after college, but then I decided I would de-friend anyone I hadn&#x27;t actually spoken with in the last year... or didn&#x27;t expect to ever really talk with again in the future.  I did that every year for a few years... and eventually just shut down my account.  For me, noise exceeded signal.  Every time I got an alert it was some fake friend wanting to connect or share something I didn&#x27;t care about.<p>I keep in touch with friends I care about with text messages, and we have our own Slack channels... and that&#x27;s good.  The absolute last thing any of us want is this super-public, broadcasted-bullshit, boast-fest full of people we don&#x27;t really care about.  Some girl I thought was cute when I was in college... there&#x27;s no reason I need to know when she has kids or what she is up to 15 years later... superficial friendships are just a time sink that take away from real friendships.<p>Anyway yeah, 5+ years Facebook-free and no regrets on that.  I like Snapchat (saying this as a nearly-40-year-old) because, like natural conversation, it&#x27;s not some crapy thing that comes back to haunt you.  Say what you want, and it&#x27;s gone.  (But... yeah, I HATE that it&#x27;s stored on some server somewhere for the government or advertisers to use to track me.)<p>Slack groups work really well for me and a few of my groups of friends.  Because we know they are exclusive, and won&#x27;t spam us, we actually value them.  When someone has a message for the entire group... &quot;I got engaged &#x2F; married &#x2F; had a kid &#x2F; new job &#x2F; moving to Singapore...&quot; whatever... it&#x27;s just information, not someone trying to milk fake internet points from strangers.<p>Focus on real friends, focus on communication that mimics real life... you say things... and they&#x27;re gone.  Imagine if some asshole was walking around with a tape recorder and recording every conversation you had... that&#x27;s how I see Facebook &#x2F; Google+...  The whole concept of these networks just makes me cringe.