Sunday, July 18, 2010

Any resistance is futile

I have been resisting for so long, and I have won many battles.

I had never thought so highly of it. I thought it is meant for the kids, not oldies and grandies like me. Yeah, I thought it is for kids and youngsters to find friends (read: girlfriends or boyfriends). What would the others, who are not in these categories, do, if they decided to be in?

To my mind, they have no business to be in in there in the first place. At least I thought I had no business to be in it.

When a former classmate and company secretary insisted that I have one, I told him with my normal dose of sarcasm that people our age use it to find another, if he knows what I mean. As such I would not be joining the bandwagon or be seen using it. He laughed, and instead of being upset with me for accusing an innocent man, he proceeded to show the what it is all about.

He understood me better than to get upset for nothing with this temperamental friend of his. Yeah, he had known me since we were 13 years old.

But I left unimpressed. I thought if I want to get connected, hey, you have my email. Email me to your heart's contents and I will respond accordingly. I saw some comments made at some postings and many of them were mono-syllable.

Yup would be a favourite entry.

I am not sure if that's a proper entry. K is another. What about Huh then? Huhuhu is another. If these are proper comments one would get in there, might as well I don't get any, I guess, just like my blog.

A couple other friends have been putting pressure on me - sort of - for years (??) too to have an account. The problem is that you would find it hard to say no to her and her request, the same way I fell for my blogging addiction three years ago. Her argument this time around is simple - it's funny inside there.

Funny? Well, according to her it is funny to see people you knew from when you were kids and see them at a ripe age of veterans. ;-) So I guess that's her motivation and I thought that that is very unconventional. I had never heard of that before, I must add.

After all she is a she - a female species! (Sorry maam, can't resist writing that.) And obviously her motivation is very different from her male counterpart.

Then again, if she thought what she saw is funny, I am not sure I want to open one myself. Some friends of friends of friends of mine - whether I do know them or not, would find mine similarly funny!

There are many other requests I guest from my primary school to add them as friends. When I complained about not seeing them on YM, Captain told me that she is in the other social site and invited me to join her. But I kept on telling her that I do not have an account and have no intention in the near future to have one.

I would like to be able to tell the world, even if nobody is listening, that I would be the last person standing that's free from the incumbrance and liability of the most used social network in the world.

Much like I could tell my fellow Malaysians that I have no intention to make Ananda Krishnan richer by having me as a client of his Astro business, never mind that he is already laughing his way to the bank.

Like my love-hate relationship withMicrosoft. For years I have used OpenOffice, a free downloadable program that compete with MS Office, and kept on telling the staff of why we should resist making Bill Gates the richest person in the world, not that he was already not.

May be the fact that he is no longer the richest person in the world today is down to a few of us not being a customer of his.

Only in my dreams, I guess, that would be true.

But I guess in the end, any resistance is futile. The many battles had already been won, but eventually I lost the war. As of last night, I am a FaceBooker, if I may term it that way.
EPILOGUE

There is a reason I, last night, let my guard down and open an account. It's to keep in touch with my two kids - nothing more, nothing less. I guess as responsible parent, I ought be be friend to them and I should know what they are up to at all time.

Despite the fact that they have been very responsible kids.

While I had never said no to them on many things, and would normally advise them to consider things rationally before deciding, I guess I should always stay and oversee things from afar.

Not being in FB is just way too far.

But I guess one thing leads to another. Less than an hour after logging in, saw a message from a former classmate noting that I am in and wondering if she would be the first to be denoted a friend.

Yes, you are, Aya! I am not sure how you did it to be honest, but yeah, she immediately knew that I am in.

I am also beginning to be impressed with FB. It immediately suggested friends I should be in contact and most of them, I am aware of their whereabout and existence. But I was surprised this morning when I saw a name I have not heard for nearly a decade. He is a Spaniard and a former colleague at the Canadian software company that we used to work at.

How on earth FB would be able to connect us? And I think 90% of the recommendations are right on the dot.

This is scary, for the lack of a proper word to describe it.

But I think I am going to be selective, with the objective of my joining in in perspective. IF only I can be truthful to myself.

3 comments:

  1. Rahman, welcome to FB . To make its a friendly Wall I would suggest that you put a profile image of yourself there.

    BTW I am already in FB as Idrus Abu bakar.

    Have a nice day.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you Pak Idrus. Consider it done as per your advice.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete