03-27-2014, 11:08 AM
I have deactivated my facebook account 3 times now, which I confused with deleting. So now I have 3 facebook accounts, all alive, and somehow all live at the same damn time because I didn't remember which email log in was current.
Honestly I don't like Facebook, for the reasons you mentioned, and also it feels stalkish for some people out there. I feel at a disadvantage when I don't seem to spend the same amount of time as they do scouring through their contact's pages, and when someone I haven't talked to in 5 years runs into me and start conversing as if they knew everything I've been up to so far because they must've gone through my photo and wall. And the whole time I had no idea they had access to those information because Facebook apparently was changing something. Again.
Still speaking of Facebook, this could depend on the kind of person you are, but I can't work relationship well with screen names and casual conversations only. And nothing ever really come out of skin-deep relationship for me. Those contacts just drifts away later on anyway, unless they have some use of you later on. None of that was ever paid work, all favors. I build relationship best when physically meeting and taking part in events with a person, or having serious and thought-exchanging conversation in long messages like email or forum posts. So Facebook = good for networking? Not for me so far.
I'm going off topic, but I've heard the arguments that you never know if those people on your list will become important people in some fields later on, so you want to friend and keep all your classmates and friend of friend on your friend list. Just in case.
But, if you're being distracted from leveling up, what good is being mediocre with a 1000 contact names on a list? They may or may not contact you with work if you're mediocre. If some of them becomes successful people, they'll also want super-skilled people to work with so they can keep learning, or have their project done well, which will reflect well back on them.
Of course, it's important to be socially experienced enough so that you're not a pain to work with, but that's all you need. But social media isn't the only nor the best way to do that. Professional conference, meet up sketch groups, volunteering locally, going to church/temple/etc, or even participating in online discussion (eg. forum) (and not just vanishing or changing user name when you get into a disagreement) (I did that before, a lot) are networking or social skill training opportunities.
Sorry for the long post, for anyone who actually read through it. Just my conflicted and long-bottled up thoughts on social media and Facebook.
In short, everyone has different social style and capability. Listen to your guts and don't bend over backwards, spending more energy/stress on trying to be as social as you think the world think you should be, than the energy you spend on becoming a good artist. Most likely your self-respect/confidence is linked more to your mastery as artist, and not your mastery of social skills.
...this turned into a fucking essay. I'm going to re-deactivate those old FB accounts now, if I can find how.
Honestly I don't like Facebook, for the reasons you mentioned, and also it feels stalkish for some people out there. I feel at a disadvantage when I don't seem to spend the same amount of time as they do scouring through their contact's pages, and when someone I haven't talked to in 5 years runs into me and start conversing as if they knew everything I've been up to so far because they must've gone through my photo and wall. And the whole time I had no idea they had access to those information because Facebook apparently was changing something. Again.
Still speaking of Facebook, this could depend on the kind of person you are, but I can't work relationship well with screen names and casual conversations only. And nothing ever really come out of skin-deep relationship for me. Those contacts just drifts away later on anyway, unless they have some use of you later on. None of that was ever paid work, all favors. I build relationship best when physically meeting and taking part in events with a person, or having serious and thought-exchanging conversation in long messages like email or forum posts. So Facebook = good for networking? Not for me so far.
I'm going off topic, but I've heard the arguments that you never know if those people on your list will become important people in some fields later on, so you want to friend and keep all your classmates and friend of friend on your friend list. Just in case.
But, if you're being distracted from leveling up, what good is being mediocre with a 1000 contact names on a list? They may or may not contact you with work if you're mediocre. If some of them becomes successful people, they'll also want super-skilled people to work with so they can keep learning, or have their project done well, which will reflect well back on them.
Of course, it's important to be socially experienced enough so that you're not a pain to work with, but that's all you need. But social media isn't the only nor the best way to do that. Professional conference, meet up sketch groups, volunteering locally, going to church/temple/etc, or even participating in online discussion (eg. forum) (and not just vanishing or changing user name when you get into a disagreement) (I did that before, a lot) are networking or social skill training opportunities.
Sorry for the long post, for anyone who actually read through it. Just my conflicted and long-bottled up thoughts on social media and Facebook.
In short, everyone has different social style and capability. Listen to your guts and don't bend over backwards, spending more energy/stress on trying to be as social as you think the world think you should be, than the energy you spend on becoming a good artist. Most likely your self-respect/confidence is linked more to your mastery as artist, and not your mastery of social skills.
...this turned into a fucking essay. I'm going to re-deactivate those old FB accounts now, if I can find how.