Can Facebook could ruin your life?

Not only is Facebook a monumental waste of time, it can destroy your life and your career. Just because everyone else loves it, doesn’t mean it is a good thing. Okay, you can build brands on it, yada, yada, but when it comes to your own personal usage - while it doesn‘t necessarily have to destroy your whole future, it will definitely bore you, as friends* write yet another dull update and you see another crap offer for something you don’t want or need.

Here are ways that Facebook is a nightmare:

Friend requests. What a minefield these can be. You don’t want to offend people by refusing their requests, but you don’t want to encourage stalkers either. Facebook is a dream come true for stalkers and bullies.

Ex-partners getting in contact. How many people do you know who started having affairs with first loves who reconnected with them on Facebook? Too many, that’s for sure.

Inebriated postings. You are having a great time and can’t resist posting a picture of it on Facebook. It is only the next day that you realise that shot of you snorting a line of coke isn’t such a smart career move.

Brands going mad. Sometimes your clients (and their online agencies full of kids just out of college) can get overenthusiastic about Facebook and post all sorts of ‘crazy’ updates, video links and annoying offers.

Time wasting. You go on just to have a quick look, but end up wasting hours. Those stupid games can be addictive. And then the boss wants to know why you haven’t written any of those proposals she asked for.

Birthday notifications. You feel obliged to wish all your Facebook friends* a happy birthday, but really what’s the point?

Addictive behaviour. It’s worrying how many people post status updates every day, or even several times a day, they obviously have a problem. Is there a Facebook Anon they can go to?

*This isn’t the same as real friends