Facebook Refuseniks Still Sorta Use It

They object in principle but end up using it by proxy
Facebook Refuseniks Still Sorta Use It
Micheal Nourie, 20, plays guitar and sings in his dorm room at Emerson College. He likes his breaks from social networking over the summers.   (AP Photo)

The Washington Post today profiles an increasingly rare breed: people in their 20s and 30s who don't use Facebook or other such sites. And though the “refuseniks” interviewed have different rationales—privacy, “morals and beliefs,” being “old-school in the personal touch way,” many share something in common that speaks to the pervasiveness of social networking: They use Facebook by proxy.

“All my friends from high school have also met my wife, and they're friends with her; my wife 'friended' them or whatever it's called,” one non-user says. His wife has a word for that: “I am his Facebook secretary.” And at least one holdout, in the habit of having linked-in buddies send his ex-girlfriend messages, knows his position is untenable. “Eventually I'm going to have to do it,” he says. “It will make stuff much smoother.” (More Facebook stories.)

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