I am sure everybody is now aware (if you care) that I think Farhad has the gift for being universally wrong in all of his articles...so, once again, I am compelled to rebut his latest ludicrous argument.

a) Facebook is a way to insulate yourself from people. How many calls do you get for your birthday instead of a an email?

I won't argue that I get to keep tabs on my friends who live worldwide, but am I closer to them because one just posted that they are "heading to the beach"? Of course not. It allows people to keep from actually interacting with others yet believe they are. People have fewer close friends then ever and I guarantee Facebook contributes to that.

b) The networking angle is garbage. I doubt 1/1000 people on the site have ever used it for real networking.

c) On one hand you say "use privacy settings" and on the other "scouting you for a genius grant"...well which is it? Either your profile is viewable or it isn't. Most people don't allow you to wander into their profile without being friended or responding to an email, so what "scouting" happens then?

d) There are numerous issues that facebook presents in varied areas. Do you friend a woman you've dated twice? when do you change your relationship status? I know people who have broken up because of stuff like this.

e) "Even doing nothing and waiting for others to friend you is enough: You're establishing a presence for other people to connect with you, which is the site's main purpose." If I have somebody in my life who knows so little about me that they don't have my email/phone/address, then what do I care if they can find me?

I am, by no means, saying that Facebook can't be useful. Your article, however, paints it as this wonderful tool that everybody must use or somehow be excluded from the joy that is Facebook.

I'd bet anything that the vast majority of time spent on the site is "wasted" time with people throwing sheep at each other, giving "gifts", taking idiotic quizes and otherwise avoiding work.

And that isn't a bad thing, I don't judge how you waste your time, but don't try to sell me swamp land and tell me it's prime real estate. Wasting time is wasting time.

While I wouldn't say everyone on Facebook is wasting time, certainly no more than I am wasting time writing this entry, I don't find anything about Facebook that makes it valuable to me.  Sure, I now know how to reach people I haven't spoken with in ten years.  But frankly, if I wanted to reach them five years ago I could have tracked down a phone number or email address somewhere, I'm sure.  I don't particularly want to have conversations on my "wall" - I'd prefer an email, phone call, or IM to using Facebook to communicate.  And yes, I have now alienated one acquaintance by refusing or ignoring his twice-daily requests to throw me a shot or send me a plant or abduct me to Las Vegas or whatever.

Something about this article really made me think it's going to be like one of those articles in 1999 telling everyone to buy tech stocks, or the articles in 2007 saying the housing market was going to have a soft landing. In a couple of years I get the feeling it might be kind of embarrassing -- if anyone remembers it, which is doubtful.