Hardly a day goes by that a friend, colleague, or acquaintance doesn't ask me why I'm not on any social networking web sites, why I'm not on any instant messenger services, or why I don't keep a personal blog. It's seemingly taken for granted that, as a technology journalist, I'd be among the first and most avid users of all the above technologies.

But here's the thing: I like living off the grid. Indeed, I believe it's a deeply underrated practice these days. And social networking and instant messenger applications are decidedly on-grid services designed to provide others constant access to me or supply them with information about what's going on in my life.

Let's talk about Facebook, the overnight web sensation that has more devotees than many religions. Trolling for past acquaintances seems to be the feature that sucks people into using the service, and it strikes me as little more than a new, publicly acceptable form of spying and gossiping. A user will find a picture of an old high school pal, request to be that person's friend, and, once accepted, immediately start talking to everyone he or she knows about that person's life -- she's gained weight, he's dating this girl, so-and-so got a job at this or that company. I find it creepy and repulsive.

Perhaps it just comes down to personality. I'm a bit of an introvert. I keep company with only a few close friends, and I prefer learning about what's going on in their lives by getting together with them for a meal or a drink rather than reading about them online.

Maybe it's also a matter of efficacy. People claim that Facebook is a quick and easy way to communicate with friends, but the people I've watched using the service seem to spend a heck of a lot of time doing other things with it. (Case in point: My wife kicked me off the computer twice as I was tapping out this dispatch, ostensibly to see if she had any new Facebook mail, but in actuality to play words in her many ongoing Facebook Scrabulous games.)

People waste time using instant messenger services, too. I used to use MSN Messenger, and co-workers constantly asked me questions they were capable of finding answer to themselves, bosses who saw me online in the evening drilled me about work problems, and my friends and family -- God bless 'em -- bombarded me with jokes and pointless small-talk messages that simply kept me from getting things done. I tried setting my status to busy or away, but still the messages came. I switched it to offline and people got upset, wondering whether I blocked them.

So one day I just switched off altogether. It was an exhilarating experience that I imagine might be akin to a smoker breaking the habit. It took a few days, but, after the cold turkey period, I've never missed it, never felt out of the loop or incommunicado for the lack of IM. Email and phones meet all of my telecommunication needs.

More importantly, I feel as though I've regained some privacy.
Twitter, a new service that sees people sending micro-blog entries (maximum 140 characters) multiple times per day to all of their friends, is the current pinnacle of voluntary privacy relinquishment. Avid users tend to twitter about everything; what they had for breakfast, complaints about work; how a first date is going, etcetera.

Narcissism, I say.

Users assume that their friends are interested in getting constant updates about their lives, that almost everything they do is something in which others ought to be interested. Unless I was living in a war zone or caught up in some natural or political disaster, I can't imagine my life being fascinating or important enough for me to think each passing moment need be shared with everyone I know.

I read a magazine article several years ago that envisioned a future in which cell phones represented the opposite of a status symbol. The writer predicted that most people would be forced to own a cell phone because their superiors would need constant accessibility, while only the rich and powerful would have the privilege of living off the grid and in privacy.

I think we can now expand this dystopian vision to include any always-on communication service or online community. And the pity, it seems to me, is that we're the ones driving ourselves to it.
 
 

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