I’ve been a member of  many social networking sites of various stripes over the years (Myspace, Friendster), and it’s earlier forms (MSN Messenger, ICQ, Blogger), so when Facebook came along a few years ago, I was ready to let it pass. To my knowledge, it was a forced social-network for students, populated by dorm dwellers.

However, after I made the leap, I was hooked: after all, this was finally a social networking site that regular people actually used. In many ways, it cashed in on all the promise all other previous sites offered… only this time around, other people signed up.

Now, a few years later, seemingly everyone I’ve ever known well is on Facebook, my parents and extended family are there, my co-workers are there, and lots of friends I’ve lost touch with long ago. People are growing up on Facebook, going to awesome parties, getting married, driving sweet cars and going on amazing vacations, buying and renovating houses, and of course, having babies.

I used to always think that a vibrant social network like Facebook would bring people together — or at least me and my friends — with a higher level of communication and intimacy. I’m not surprised to learn that every problem I struggle with in social situations, I’m merely replicating (and intensifying) online. After a few years of Facebook usage, I can’t say I have any “better” friends because of it, though I do have a far more in-depth background of all my acquaintances. As a tool for discovering out info about new people, it’s way fun (and kind of creepy).

So, partially inspired by that infamous Eye Weekly article, I’ve chosen to check-out of Facebook.

Hopefully, I’ll force myself to actually become a better “offline” friend than a poor “online” pal. I won’t know what you’ve been up to all week, because I won’t have read your status every day, I won’t have seen photos of your car/dog/vacation/wedding/zygote, and I won’t know your birthday anymore. I’ll still have twitter and other Web 2.0 stuff going on, but as long as I’m working “in the industry,” there’s always a certain level of professional obligation in participating in those sort of things.

This isn’t me saying goodbye to the web either: You’ll still currently find my writing here and on CTV.ca, my photos will resume going up on Flickr, and I’ll keep up Myspace/CBCR3 for “Silver Speakers” stuff.  I’m sorry to say goodbye to Facebook, but at this point it’s turned into a personally negative experience overall, and a giant time-suck to boot.