Considering Opting Out

I am thinking about opting out of such things like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, I miss the blogosphere, when most of my friends kept blogs--and we visited each other and left notes, it seemed more cozy and less frenetic than the mass social networking phenomenon. I have a 176 friends on Facebook, most of those I know through poetry, high school, family, friends and work--and a small percentages of these friends I have known most of my life. Without Facebook I would not have an extended network of writers or have been able to catch up with high school friends. The remainder of the friends I have not lost contact with and can pick up the phone and talk to them anytime. I would love to start a letter writing campaign--I love to write letters, to receive letters, to communicate fully through the written word. I don't want sound bites, 140 characters poems, clever wordplay, or hidden innuendos--I like people, I like to talk to others, to share ideas, to explore thoughts on politics , the environment, child raising, the changing role of woman, the pressure on girls, how to get a B student into a decent college, what it means to be wife, mother, writer, photographer and environmental scientist. Okay maybe not politics as I myself am pretty politically neutral. A dear friend of mine describes Facebook as an opium for the masses and I am beginning to think he is right. Perhaps it is time to opt out.