Is quitting Facebook the path to social salvation or being left out?

Facebook is a great way to stay connected with friends.
It’s also a great way to get fired, have your insurance benefits revoked, or suffer public humiliation. As a result, a number of users are deleting their accounts and leaving the popular networking site behind.
For good.
“It just became too much,” says Josh Rhine, an economic developer from Atlanta. “More an obligation than fun. It also started to smell like some one cracked an egg of high school over an old gossip rag.”
As archived by Google, there are over 50 million web pages on deleting and quitting Facebook accounts. Said queries also include the deletion of individual items in Facebook; by no means an exact number of the site’s total turnover. But it’s an obvious indicator that lots of people are at least considering the deletion of their accounts, and helping others do the same upon completion.
This is due to a number of reasons, say former users. But being a distraction is paramount among them. “I quit Facebook because I needed time to focus on myself rather than worry about what other people were doing,” says Belen Albanes, who deleted her five year-old account and 900 friends in January.
“I found that it took time away from other things that I should be doing because it was somewhat addictive,” adds Dave Pinegar, a medical student from Iowa.
For Facebook, distracting you to their website is a way to profitability. The longer you stay on their site and the more you interact with it, the more advertising and partnership deals the company can make. Which is why the site floods your email, profile page, and phone with reminders to “come on by.”
These constant alerts can be turned off with a little digging in the settings menu, but the desire to know what other people are doing remains a powerful influence. So the distraction is often welcomed until it becomes too much.
Another problematic side effect of Facebook is that the site joins areas of life that may work better under separate circumstances, such as personal and business. “Some of my professional contacts didn’t always get my sense of humor,” admits Rhine. Often times, Rhine says he would be confronted by work associates for not adding them on Facebook.
“Who needs that social awkwardness?” he says in frustration. “I don’t want that. I’ve got all the drama I need, thank you very much.”
In my own life, Facebook has created similar annoyances. After friending an associate I briefly knew on one occasion, then defriending him years later after losing touch, I encountered him again in a different social setting. Even though I did it for innocent reasons, it was obvious the individual knew I removed them from Facebook, which put an unnecessary strain on the re-introduction.
That being the case, Facebook “has complicated the meaning of friend,” Rhine says, and thus “people get offended.”
When it’s not distracting or confusion relationships, Facebook is inviting more risks into your life, says Pinegar. “On one occasion I opened a bogus link from a friend that redirected me to an infectious website,” he says. “I was concerned that I might have compromised the security of my computer so I immediately closed my account.”
Some users don’t even realize the risks they may be taking when divulging sensitive information on Facebook. Just last month, one of my Facebook friends announced the specific dates he would be out of town, using an application called Tripit.
“Why would you ever want to publicize when you’re not at home?” I commented in disbelief, reminding him of the threat of burglary. “I trust the people I’m friends with on Facebook,” he quipped, before considering the 577 listed friends on his account, then adding, “Well, most of them.”
Pinegar even questions if the site enhances relationships as it claims to, or if it’s merely an illusion. “I no longer consider Facebook time as socializing,” he says. “It seems to be more the opposite—more like hiding behind a computer and being introverted.”
Adds Rhine, “Facebook has become ‘who can sign my yearbook the most’—nothing more.” MSNBC recently made similar analogies, and just last month, Reuters’ Richard Baum wrote that many people use Facebook as a “short-cut” for time-consuming and meaningful relationship building.
But wouldn’t deleting your Facebook account hinder your social life? “Absolutely not,” says Pinegar. “I still can meet face-to-face with someone. I still have a phone. I still use my email. These are all good resources for staying connected.”
Albanes, who calls the deletion of her account “liberating, agrees. “At first I started feeling very distant from everyone, as though I was missing out on events,” she says. “But now I realize I am still able to text or call friends and family, and they are able to do the same.”
Nevertheless, for those wanting to delete their accounts, it’s not an easy task. Facebook will use your friends and its 300 million registered members to pressure you into staying. What’s more, Rhine says he’s experienced some “backlash” after deleting his account.
“People still think I’ve unfriended them, even though I unfriended myself,” he says. “But at least they’re no longer crowding my inbox with what they ate for lunch.”
Companies: Facebook