I look at Facebook often. My family is spread all over the country and there are new babies and other family news there every day. I have few “friends” and send out an original post less than once a week, but I feel I have gotten to know several family members better, and have reconnected with a couple of old friends from college and highschool.
I have un-friended some people whose private business I did not care to know any more. But mostly there has only been upside, as I have gotten to know the young adults in my family better, as well as some of the retirees.
That’s good that you can use Facebook instead of letting it fill your time. This seems to happen with younger people in particular, in my experience.
As with all things, if you can control it instead of letting be just another thing cluttering your life, that’s great. For me, and my life and my relationships, it’s just useless.
It's been great touching base with people who I've normally hear from far less via normal methods. There's a sense of "neighborhood" and community in the forum.
So Yes, I do take time to respond and chat with people, but I feel a true sense of connection to them that wouldn't normally be available unless I was spending hours on the phone or sending out emails.
From that perspective, it's a truly powerful tool, not just for entertainment.
Anyway, to each their own, you'd each have my respect if you used it or not. I think the constraint placed on all of us in using this tool is to understand that regardless of privacy settings, just like FR, we are in a "public forum", and to behave accordingly.
Oh, and I've had to drop commie "former" friends after ripping them new ones for commie political posts on FB. I've explained, harshly, I don't need this crap tossed in my face and I see exactly how much you respect your friends, blah, blah, blah... What can you do? Liberals are all idiots. Some can be salvaged but not all the time.
Cheers!