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Not having a Facebook page may mean you're a weirdo

BY Jamie Skorheim  on August 9, 2012 @ 11:48 am (Updated: 9:06 am - 8/10/12 )

cedargrove
Are you on Facebook? If you're not it could be an indication that you're some kind of weirdo says a number of recent reports (AP)

Are you on Facebook? If you're not, it could be an indication that you're some kind of weirdo, say a number of recent reports summed up in a Daily Mail article titled "Is not joining Facebook a sign you're a psychopath?"

The article says some employers and psychologists are starting to believe not having a Facebook page is a red flag. One of the reports notes that two accused murderers in recent mass killings, including Colorado shooting suspect James Holmes, did not have Facebook pages.

Labeling people without Facebook pages psychopaths is perhaps taking things a little too far, says Ross and Burbank fill-in host Shawn Stewart.

"I think that's a tad extreme," she says. But if you're under 25, she says maybe it is a little weird.

Dave Ross also sees a distinction in age groups. He doesn't think it's fair to expect everyone his age [over 50] to be super active in social media. The only personal life details his generation was expected to share could all be handled with a little chit chat at the annual office party he says.

This new idea of posting details on the movie you just saw, or your song of the day to hundreds of friends on Facebook is just not something he grew up with. Adapting to online "friends" is also new for him.

"A lot of these so-called friends, you really don't know that well," he says.

Stewart says many of the people she is "friends" with on Facebook she doesn't even know in real life. She says the social network has not resulted in any real-life friendships for her and calls it a frightening prospect.

"I think it's good to be suspicious of people who reach out to you via Facebook," says Stewart. "I never friend anybody that I don't at least have a couple other friends in common [with]."

Stewart finds the task of determining just what to share with this mixed audience a challenge for her.

"It's such a tricky, fine line because the language is all about friends and sharing, you want it to become personal."

Both Stewart and Ross say they didn't come to the social network with the intention of sharing a lot of personal details about themselves, and they still try to refrain from sharing too much.

Both were motivated to join in part for professional purposes. Ross was trying to view a story subject's profile and Stewart was promoting herself for work.

Does the fact that they weren't joining to be social mean they're on the line of this "suspicious" or "abnormal" group, or is this whole idea just bunk?

By JAMIE GRISWOLD, MyNorthwest.com Editor

Jamie Skorheim, MyNorthwest.com Editor
Whether it's floating on Green Lake, eating shrimp tacos at Agua Verde, or taking weekend drives out to the Cascades, she loves to enjoy the Pacific Northwest lifestyle as much as humanly possible.
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Comments (18)


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  • kata wrote...
    to install a real life
    August 9, 2012 3:15 pm
    alt-f4 twice.

    Facebook is where the product thinks it's the customer :)

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  • Saltchucker wrote...
    I guess I'm a psychopath then.
    August 9, 2012 3:24 pm
    I've never had a problem with waving my freak flag for effect either. The look on folks faces when you wear an NRA hat with a Grateful Dead tie dye is priceless! I'm just private enough at 42 that I have no desire to publish the details of my daily existance on the web or twitter. If you are really my friend you spend time with me IN PERSON! Can't go fishing with your buddies via Facebook after all.
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  • Weird wrote...
    Whoever raised this issue up..
    August 9, 2012 4:15 pm
    is stupid, weird and suspicious! How would you accuse people just because they don't join social media? I don't have a facebook account just because I think it's useless and wastes my times. If you are stupid, don't make other people stupid like you.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Nickatnyt wrote...
    I admit it.
    August 9, 2012 5:00 pm
    I started a FB page to get in contact with some HS classmates before our reunion this weekend. After that, it pretty much will go back to whence it came, the netherworld of the internet graveyard.
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  • Tracy White wrote...
    Reference Frame
    August 9, 2012 6:33 pm
    People approach things from their own personal experience... to them, what they see and feel is natural and things that are otherwise are different. When people do this to a moderate level, they lay the foundation of fear, mistrust, bigotry, and prejudice.
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  • ronzilla wrote...
    Actually, Facebookers are ignorant robotic sheep, in a trance of Alpha sleep. JUST THE WAY THE GOVERNMENT WANTS THEM.
    August 9, 2012 8:10 pm
    Non-Facebookers are the independent thinking wolves whom the government will fear (along with gun owners) when the President of the U.S. attempts to create a police-state.
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  • ronzilla wrote...
    Of course that's a broad generalization I put forth.
    August 9, 2012 8:27 pm
    But there is a lot of credence in that generalization.

    Frank Zappa was aware the intentional dumbing-down of the American public 40 years ago. http://www.metrolyrics.com/im-the-slime-lyrics-frank-zappa.html

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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Uh - No. .. Expecting others to use Facebook only is what's weird.
    August 9, 2012 8:44 pm
    Exhibit 'A': Check out how many people reply to Dori, or to R & D, who want comments on their blogs via Facebook. .. (or maybe they don't WANT comments).

    Exhibit 'B': Dave, how's that Facebook stock investment working out for you ???

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  • murr wrote...
    Yep cant and dont want to
    August 9, 2012 8:52 pm
    Put up with all the bzzzz sssss that can and sometimes comes with it. It is very good for some but not me. You speak your opinion, that will be the first plae they will go to try to draw who they think you are. Not a whole look different than here. You bet their noses are in here at times, if not more.
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  • nwskiergirl wrote...
    Everyone uses it differently
    August 9, 2012 9:36 pm
    I am much more concerned about those who define their lives via FB than those who could care less about it. I know all of my FB friends and DO NOT add people I have not known for many years. FB has really just become a place for me to ready articles about areas of interest for me. I use it as a networking tool and place to share photos with family. But nothing more. I think people would be shocked to see how much time they spend doing "nothing" on FB everyday. Pull the plug and let your brain work, that is what is normal.
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  • Ron_Spins wrote...
    FFB
    August 9, 2012 9:58 pm
    NO facebook here
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • tlmbrt wrote...
    SHEEPLE
    August 9, 2012 11:38 pm
    If you don't do what crowd deems normal, you must be labeled and made an outcast. Maybe even send you to a "reeducation camp" to make you think the proper way....
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