Is it possible to have a social life or make friends without facebook?

College Life
1

<p>I recently started graduate school at UT Southwestern. It’s a school dedicated to biomedical research. I started a summer rotation, so I’ll be working in a lab every day, in addition to taking a class that meets up once a week. Only about 30-40 people are here so far. There are a total of about 80 students in our incoming class. Fall semester starts on August 19th, so that’s when the rest of the people will arrive.</p>

<p>So onto the question: I don’t have a facebook, and I’ve heard that pretty much everyone in college has one nowadays. Is it possible to still have a social life or be able to make friends without a facebook? Is it harder? What can I do to still have a social life? We’re doing group work in my summer class, and I’ve already met my group (we’re only doing one group assignment in our class). We’ll also be doing a little bit of group work in our fall semester class, but not too much (maybe just one assignment). I’ll also be doing 2-3 more lab rotations when fall quarter starts.</p>

<p>I also don’t intend to get a facebook, so please don’t reply with comments such as “just get a facebook”. So yeah, what do you recommend that I do?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>yes, you’ll probably have more friends because you aren’t wasting your time on facebook haha</p>

3

<p>I assume you are opposed to FB b/c of the time constraints ? But before there was FB, I had friends, even with FB I can still make friends. FB just makes it easier to stalk people! =D</p>

4

<p>haha Brando, has it exactly right. I have a FB but i don’t really use it for socializing. I suppose some people do but most people have some activities in which they like to socialize.</p>

5

<p>I dont like cell phones (call me crazy), so whenever I meet someone that wants to keep in contact, I tell them to drop me a line on my FB. I spend no more then 5 minutes of my day using FB for the record.</p>

6

<p>Yeah it is. Though you may occasionally find yourself out of the loop. Both in the fact that people with faceboo tend to assume that everyone has facebook and conversation about various facebook related things are not uncommon.</p>

7

<p>At my school a lot of events are only even advertised on facebook. I wouldn’t have made any of the friends I made last year because they are all from my club, which is promoted only on facebook.</p>

8

<p>I had facebook in college (probably the 2nd year it came out), then I got rid of it after I graduated.</p>

<p>About 5 months ago, peer pressure got to much and I signed back up. It’s so stupid.</p>

<p>There are people who I once liked, but now can’t stand because of facebook. For example, I have a cousin who recently moved to AZ from PA. Everyday since (about 4 months), she posts the temperature in Phoenix. </p>

<p>“Only 101 today, a bit cool!”</p>

<p>“103 - yep, just 103”</p>

<p>"98, maybe go for a run in the cool weather?</p>

<p>“Ok, I know this sounds bizarre, but it’s 86 degrees outside and I feel cold!!!”</p>

<p>It’s so freaking annoying.</p>

<p>Then I gotta put up with my buddies Fiance posting crap about their wedding every day…like anyone cared.</p>

<p>“Waking up early and meeting with the DJ, then picking up the cake and buying decorations with Mom and Aunt Nancy”</p>

<p>“OMG, weddings are so stressful, I’m about to pull my hair out!!!”</p>

<p>“Jogging - need to lose 10 lbs. to fit into my dress”</p>

<p>It never freaking stops.</p>

<p>It’s nice to have because there are a handful of people that it helps to stay in touch with, but it gets real annoying - real fast.</p>

9

<p>I wish I had the courage to deactivate my FB. I have this irrational fear that I’ll get “left out of the loop” even though no one I know uses it to communicate social plans–if I’m going out to some bar friday night, I obviously would just call/text my friends to coordinate, not FB them. And I’m not old enough yet to use FB for keeping in contact with long lost friends but it is useful for sharing pictures of drunken/hilarious exploits.</p>

10

<p>I only have a handful of college friends friended on Facebook [which I use for about 10 minutes per day], and the only time I contact them is over the summer when they return to their home states and I don’t see them. Otherwise, the only benefit of Facebook during the school year is event invitations that I wouldn’t have heard of otherwise.</p>

11

<p>Just get Facebook already. Stop being a luddite.</p>

<p>Yes, it’s a waste of time to endlessly add people you don’t know. But for keeping in touch with new (and old) friends, it’s an invaluable tool</p>

12

<p>It’s a whole new environment so you can set the tone. If you organize an after class get together via email it will set the precedent as the normal mode of communication. </p>

<p>so email a few of the people you’ll be working with and ask if they want to grab a beer after class. Even if they say no they’ll know how you prefer to communicate.</p>

13

<p>It’s a new world, folks. No one uses e-mail (for friends), so don’t expect to make friends that way.</p>

<p>Also, you do know that it’s easy to hide someone’s status updates, right?</p>

14

<p>just get a myspace. you don’t make friends on facebook, you connect WITH friends. I mean have you ever met someone you met on CC and became real life friends with them? probably not. you don’t really “meet” people on facebook. it’s just an easy way to spread the word about events and is great when/if you don’t have a cell phone. A couple of my guy friends don’t have one and they are fine. for academic stuff, we just email eachother because everyone’s email is in our address books. I find it funny if people make facebook events for study groups. facebook is nice in some ways, it’s cool to meet incoming students, but I never became friends with someone just because I interacted with them on fb.but I’ve gotten in trouble a couple of times for things on my page. and all the stupid applications are annoying. facebook is just another means of communication. it’s not a tool most people use to make friends.</p>

15

<p>Just get a Facebook. In this modern day so many things are transitioning over to Facebook, nearly every reputable organization/business has a strongly-promoted Facebook page, and frankly it’s an extremely easy tool for keeping in touch with people who you otherwise might have a difficult time keeping in touch with along with allowing you to just quickly see out of curiosity what they are up to. </p>

<p>I have one where I keep in touch with all my friends who might otherwise be difficult to along with using it for getting the word out and promotion for some things. It’s extremely useful for the professional world of non-profits/politics and such. </p>

<p>If you have privacy concerns, do as I do and heavily limit what you post or share on it and that solves it. As for reading annoying status updates, well frankly who cares. It’s just a status update that you can choose to disable from sending you updates in the future. Not a legitimate reason to stop using a whole very popular site. Having a Facebook nowadays is about standard with having an email. If someone doesn’t have one, I know lots of people in high-up fields who would be instantly judging, especially if the person in question is a young person. The attitude used to be different but now people are realizing the amazing use of Facebook beyond a place to just post stupid pictures. </p>

<p>It’s just like those people who don’t own a computer and then cite “oh, I like having personal conversations through the phone and in person” - trying to cover up their refusal to just take a few minutes and harmlessly enjoy a modern technology.</p>

16

<p>Absolutely not. The physical world is an outdated form of Reality. Get with the times.</p>

17

<p>10 years ago, people had plenty of friends and no one used facebook.</p>

18

<p>^30 years ago, people were able to access information without computers. That doesn’t mean you should stick to searching for info without computers now just because you can. It’s less convenient because everyone else is using a faster method. :P</p>

19

<p>"10 years ago, people had plenty of friends and no one used facebook. "</p>

<p>I rest my case.</p>

20

<p>^ Facebook’s main purpose isn’t to make friends, but rather its purpose is to make it easier to stay in touch and keep in contact with friends.</p>