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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be secretly pleased at the prospect that people may have to pay to use Facebook in the future?

127 replies

lovechoc · 07/10/2009 13:12

I recently heard that Facebook may start charging a monthly/annual fee to members who use this site. I personally don't use it but DH does and he just shrugged when I told him about it.

It is just a rumour at the moment, but if it happens, I can't help feeling quite happy about it. Means less people will be spending their time staring at a computer and putting useless 'updates' on their pages.

OP posts:
Original poster
lovechoc · 07/10/2009 13:39

surely there is also an element of your privacy being invaded using social networking though. I must just be one of these people that doesn't want the whole wide world to know what I'm doing all the time.
There's just something really narccisstic about FB.

OP posts:
midnightexpress · 07/10/2009 13:40

YABU. For all the reasons already given. Why should it bother you what other people do with their free time?

I work from home and my family and many of my friends are hundreds of miles away, so it's a good way to keep in touch with people. I don't have much time in the evenings for long phone calls, so I'd sometimes rather spend 10 minutes catching up with 10 people than an hour on the phone to one person.

Personally, I find MN absorbs much more of my time than FB.

midnightexpress · 07/10/2009 13:42

You don't have to post updates though. Your privacy is only invaded as much as you let it be invaded. You can control who sees your stuff, ignore friend requests and of course exercise restraint in what you put up in the first place.

electra · 07/10/2009 13:42

I see where you are coming from, OP - and this is from someone who is moderately addicted to FB

whoingodsnameami · 07/10/2009 13:43

I found a brother I had never met on facebook, so I think its brilliant.

Meglet · 07/10/2009 13:44

So MN isn't addictive .
I'm in the bathroom with my crackberry posting this.

claw3 · 07/10/2009 13:46

Personally i have to admit to not being an FB fan, purely because it seems to cause trouble between relationships. But i have no objections to others wanting to us it.

bamboobutton · 07/10/2009 13:47

you can set privacy settings on FB so the whole world doesn't know your business.

and ive had an email account for over ten years but it's only been in the last year or so that i have found all my old college friends i had lost contact with and my life long friend i had had a falling out with 4/5 years ago and never heard from since, if it wasn't for facebook we would never have seen each other again! so nyeeer:p

Bramshott · 07/10/2009 13:47

Constant status updates are indeed narcissistic, but not all of Facebook is. Just choose not to post status updates, and if someone on your friends posts too many irritating ones, either de-friend them or hide their updates. It's a great way to keep vaguely in touch with extended family and not-too-close friends, and see what they're up to. I am currently watching picture updates of my uncle building a yurt in SW France - he wouldn't send me those specifically by email!

IveNowGotCleanCarpets · 07/10/2009 13:49

YANBU

flowerybeanbag · 07/10/2009 13:49

If you're not a fan of Facebook I can understand why you might be indifferent to the possibility of charging. But I can't see why anyone who doesn't use it could be pleased at the prospect of it being fee-based, thereby inconveniencing lots of people including your own family. If you don't use it why would you care either way?

FimboFortunaFeet · 07/10/2009 13:54

What a silly op. It's made me want to go off and play bejeweled now and I was restraining myself.

pigletmania · 07/10/2009 13:58

yABVVVVVVVU, people use Facebook including myself, i am a STAHM dont drive and live in a very quitet location so i cant get out much. At the end of the day i am too tired to call and when i do friends are not there, Facebook allows me to keep in contact with my friends as well as making new ones and to catch up on waht people are doing. My friends dad has MS and uses Facebook which allows him to keep in contact with people, he does not go out much as he is in a wheelchair and his mobility is severely impaired. So op YABVU

whoisasking · 07/10/2009 13:58

Coo! Talk about mean spirited.

I think you're probably fed up with your DH spending too much time on FB and are projecting your aggression onto a computer programme, as opposed to looking into your real reasons for such schadenfreude.

I don't like twitter much. I've tried it, thought it was pretty dull, and haven't bothered with it for a while. I wouldn't be clapping my hands together gleefully if a charge was to be levied upon it. Why would I? It doesn't affect me.

pigletmania · 07/10/2009 13:59

sorry i meant that people use facebook for a variety of reasons

TwentiethCenturyHeffa · 07/10/2009 14:06

I love FB, although I find MN much more addictive. I already keep in touch with close friends via phone, email and post. What I like about FB is that it lets me stay in touch with people who I wouldn't necessarily be in contact with otherwise. Most of my (small) year group from school are on Facebook and it's been great recently as a bunch of us have had our first babies in the last year or so and we've been in touch other, giving support and advice - none of us were that close at school so we would never have been in contact if it wasn't for FB. Tbh, I'd happily pay for FB if that ever happened for that reason.

ObsidianBlackbirdMcNight · 07/10/2009 14:21

You don't use it but you are happy that other people won't be able to waste their time on it? What a cow. MN is equally addictive if not more so. it's none of your bloody business how people choose to communicate with their friends. Keep your beak out! With FB I can post pics of my son once and everyone who will be interested can look at them. With email I have to attach pics 5 at a time to each email which takes 5-10 minutes each time. So yes, FB is better. Bog off.

CommonNortherner · 07/10/2009 14:22

Ah, this thread just reminded me to check Facebook!

ObsidianBlackbirdMcNight · 07/10/2009 14:24

And yes, there are boring bastards who post about what they are having for dinner/wearing/thinking 5 times a day. I hide them so I don't have to see it. I rarely update my status unless something important is going on or I think of something very amusing that I would like to tell people. Nobody can see my stuff if I don't let them. Ooh your attitude has got me all annoyed now

TheHeadlessWombat · 07/10/2009 14:25

YABU and very odd.

Tortington · 07/10/2009 14:26

i fail to see the diference between someone saying on their status " wearing new skinny jeans today"

and someone posting in style section of mumsnet " i am wearing my new skinny jeans today"

Squitten · 07/10/2009 14:28

YABU

I find Facebook has been invaluable since I had my son. I'm a SAHM and it's got me in touch with people I wouldn't otherwise be talking to. My family and friends all swap photos and keep in touch so easily.

Saying that, I'm also quite ruthless with it and will remove people if I don't want to know what they're doing anymore. I don't have any time for the "etiquette" rubbish.

I wouldn't pay for it but I would definitely miss it.

LoveBeingAMummy · 07/10/2009 14:38

By lovechoc Wed 07-Oct-09 13:30:53 Add a message | Report post | Contact poster
nope, have a happy relationship with DH but do think that FB sucks people in too much, and they waste their whole life on it.

This is like saying that friends reunited makes people have affairs. You can only be taken away by a website or a real person if you want to be.

Monsterspam · 07/10/2009 14:42

YABU

IMHO you sound bitter that your DH spends time on Facebook instead of with you....

BloodshotEyeballs · 07/10/2009 14:55

People who whinge about FB are always the ones who are secretly scared that no one would want to be their friend

Sorry you don't know enough people for FB. Never mind, I'm sure some MNetters would hbe your FB friend...assuming they don't have to pay for the privilige...