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Comment by tivert | Hacker News Reader

> The article claims that life without Facebook is impossible. I haven't had an account for years and although I don't know what I'm missing, that statement seems exaggerated. Is this article more a reflection of the author's poor self control than of reality?

Not necessarily. Lots of social circles use Facebook Events to organize get togethers, and not having an active Facebook account leads to you being left out. The people leaving you out may only be acquaintances, but that doesn't mean it's ok.

This is the reason why I still have a Facebook account. It's obviously and explicitly inactive, and I only log in when I get an event invite.

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This is the one problem I have with not having a Facebook account. There are one or two groups that I would like to be a member of but their online forum is only available through their Facebook group. Not ever having an account with Fb prevents me from signing up.

I have many reasons to dislike Fb but at the top of that is how gated it makes communities.

On the other hand, do you want to get involved with people who are okay with such gated communities? It sounds to me like there would be a difference in values.

Interacting with people of different values is mostly a good thing. And it is certainly no bad thing when the differences are over something as trivial as which online platforms you want to use.

I think the reason why Facebook is used is due to the ease of setup and management of the group. Rather than installing forum software, paying for hosting, etc., it's just easier to use Facebook Groups. And, as adrianratnapala wrote, I think it's good to interact with those that have different values.

It's not a difference in values, just a difference in priorities. You make it sounds like they explicitly set out to build a gated community, when they actually want to build a community and just choose the path of least resistance.

>Lots of social circles use Facebook Events to organize get togethers, and not having an active Facebook account leads to you being left out. The people leaving you out may only be acquaintances, but that doesn't mean it's ok.

If Facebook is such a problem then people could just stop being part of these social circles. It really isn't that difficult.

> If Facebook is such a problem then people could just stop being part of these social circles. It really isn't that difficult.

No, it actually is that difficult, or more precisely that undesirable. Very few people are such anti-Facebook activists that they're going to dump valued friends and acquaintances in order to dump Facebook. That's why Facebook is going to hold on to a lot of users, and why it'll end in a whimper and not a bang.

The only case where it "really isn't that difficult" is if you have no valued relationships that have a Facebook component.

Your arrogance is breath-taking.

Will you only decide which hobbies I may have, or do I have to submit planned meals and TV watching for your approval, as well?

"Just stop being part", my ass...

I'm not telling you to stop doing things you want to do. I'm telling you that it's possible to go without being part of a group if you don't like some things about the group.

That's bullshit. You simply don't know what I'm talking about and your better-than-thou attitude is insulting.

"Just cut yourself off from social interaction" is not really helpful advice.

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