The time has come for me to close my account on The Facebook. It's been great and it's been nice to reconnect with many of you, but now, not only do I find myself spending more time on it than I would like.
This isn't a referendum on The Facebook, it's a referendum on my time. See, I spend a lot of time on The Facebook, and I just don't feel that I'm getting the value out of it that I'm putting in to it.
The clincher came this morning, when I chatted with one of my colleagues:
Me: Can you help me with something that will take just a moment of your time?The poem comes from Piet Hein, and I'm copying it from Nelson Minar's weblog:Him: Sure, whatdya need?Me: I need you to make a decision for me. But I'll give you no data. All I want from you is 'yes' or 'no.Him: Shoot.Me: I won't give you the question.Him: Or really, no data?Me: Really.Him: I've flipped a coin.Me: OK.Him: Tails.Me: So was that Yes or No?Him: Oh, I don't know. It's tails.Me: OK that doesn't help me. Let's try again.Him: OK, this time tails = no.Me: OK.Him: It's tails.Me: Perfect. The question was "Should I delete my Facebook account?"Him: So you're not going to delete it?Me: No, I will.Him: What?Me: There's this poem which I'm about to butcher [ed: which I then did.]
...
Helpful advice at a time like this.Decision MakingWhenever you're called on to make up your mind
And you're hampered by not having any
The simplest way to solve the dilemma you'll find
Is simply by flipping a pennyNo, not so that chance shall decide the affair
As you're passively standing there moping
But as soon as the penny is up in the air
You'll suddenly know what you're hoping
This doesn't mean I no longer want to be in touch; I do. It just means I would just be happier using other online media to do so. You can still find me on Twitter, FriendFeed or even my occasionally updated blog. If you use gmail or AOL instant messenger, give me your account information, and we can chat that way. Or you can even send me email through the traditional means, and I certainly hope you do.
Keep in touch. - Robert
5 comments:
I admire the way you used that coin toss. That's a very enlightening poem. Thanks for sharing that.
Good to see you Elliot! See? Leaving The Facebook has already brought about one good thing.
I am not just going to IM you, I'm going to call you and talk to you, like with my voice, like as if I typed things into my computer and then applied text-to-speech to it. Amazing, I know.
And I guess leaving the Facebook brought about that, too.
Hey Rob, just googled you and this came up... just want to say hi.
Paul Rubenstein
My email is on my website:
www.ubertar.com
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