I’m Off My Facebook

Facebook has been the way I recently connect to friends, old and new, but its privacy policy has been concerning me since the day I signed up in 2007. In many levels, it is more a data mining scam than information sharing network with friends. And there is copyrights issue of the content you post on Facebook. And the list goes on and on. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Facebook

There is another personal problem—my on-line game addiction. In fact, I was not active on Facebook until role-play games like Mafia Wars and FarmVille got into me. It is very easy for me to get distracted and level up on those games to feel I finish something but reality I accomplish nothing. I have to give it up before my life goes down deeper than where it is now. Quitting an addiction is not easy but I have done it with tobacco.

I will keep the account until 31 May 2010 Australian Eastern Standard Time. You can still see me social network, mainly, on twitter > http://twitter.com/ApostrophePong, flickr > http://www.flickr.com/photos/trinnity/, vimeo > http://vimeo.com/apostrophepong and on my own blog https://www.outtospace.com/. It might not be as fun as Facebook but, at least, I feel I can trust them

That is the original last status update I intended to post on Facebook but way too long. The decision to quit Facebook was not easy since I reconnected with good old friends in Thailand who emerged from Hi5 and was about to get to know more new friends via Mafia Wars. But I want a discipline to stay focus on making a living at some point and the projects in my head.

Facebook privacy issues have been debated for a long time and I was sceptic about it on the day I joined. It did not bother me much since I did not expose my works directly on the site.

I annoyed with myself the most when I created my own illusion of accomplishments on role-play games and made an easy escape from the reality. From MiniClip to Kongragrate, been there, done that. Online game addiction has been my problem for years since the depression rolled in. Addiction is a symptom of mental illness and it contributed to my downfall amongst other fucked-up incidents.

I was only active Facebook for role-play games: Mafia Wars and FarmVille. On the other hand, I have not created any new work at all. That has to change. I have to stay away from it, at least, until I can pick myself up again.

Do you know anyone who has game addiction problem, either online or console? What do you do?

6 thoughts on “I’m Off My Facebook”

  1. Hi Pong,

    my name is Andrew and I too am an online gaming addict.

    I’ve quit Facebook also. I will miss the Farmville and Fishville things, and all the other madness. I’ve quit over the privacy thing – but I do recognise the addiction angle and I understand that being able to walk away is an important self-affirmation.

    What do I do about it? I have a playstation (PS3) – I only play on weekends but I do binge on it within reason (probably 10 hours this weekend all up I suppose). I keep in touch with other people via Plurk and email so it’s not like I’ve walked away from all social media – just the obsessive multi-game addiction.

    Good luck with it and please take care.

    Best regards, Andrew

    1. Hi Andrew,

      Thank you for our comment. My name is ‘Pong. I have not played game for half an hour. Just slipped it on the game on my mobile while waiting for the video to render. I am trying to recognise the illusion sense of achievement from gaming, as we speak. It is actually not too easy when you hardly see the purpose of yourself. Hopefully, it will get clearer when I have passed this phase. One at a time.

      Regards,

  2. I admire you for taking this step. It’s not easy to walk away from an activity that has provided us with distraction and a feeling of accomplishment but which is ultimately unproductive. I’m glad you’re keeping some “life lines” via Twitter, Flickr, etc. to the social world. You need person-to-person interaction if you are depressed which can cause individuals to withdrawal.

    My only suggestion is to send a brief email to your friends explaining your decision. I’m afraid that most people won’t see your update. That wouldn’t be a problem if you were just going to go inactive but if you’re deleting your account, your friends (who might check into Facebook once a week/month) won’t know what the heck happened to you and become concerned.

    Good luck!

    1. Hi Liz,

      You’re right about in-the-flesh contact. The lack of it slowly causes people the blues. And thank you for the suggestion. That is definitely an activity to take my mind our of the addiction.

      Cheers!

  3. That’s awesome, Pong. I’ve also had privacy concerns with facebook since the very beginning. I just disagree with their whole modus operandi – the way they repeatedly change settings you have specified without your permission and without the decency of even notifying you! Lately I’ve been trying to pluck up the courage to delete my account. Last night I tried to deactivate it to see how I would go without it, but was prevented from deactivating with a cryptic message from facebook which I did not understand! No info on help forums. Very frustrating. Think I will have to just bite the bullet, take inspiration from you and DELETE completely. Proud of you.

    1. Hey Felicity,

      I never thought of this action would be an inspiration to someone. Thank you very much. The process of deleting the account show how dodgy they are. They try to lure and hook you back into it.

      There will be lots of stuff I’ll miss on Facebook. This evening my mind still lingers to finishing the final episode in Mafia Wars and photos my friends upload. But ultimately, I feel free and let go.

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