1:  Privacy concerns

 Putting your personal information in the care of others, no matter how diligent their stewardship, increases your risk of that information getting into the hands of third parties. Our image is, in part, defined by our words. Each of us should ask how much of ourselves we want to give to people we don’t even know. Once gone, that private piece of our lives can never be retrieved.

 2: Ownership of content is unclear

Who actually owns and who controls “your” intellectual content .: If you don’t control it, do you really own it? It  The Twitter Terms of Service as of July 4, 2012, clearly states that you own the content you post:  “You retain your rights to any Content you submit, post or display on or through the Services….But what’s yours is yours — you own your Content (and your photos are part of that Content).” According to a New York judge,, Twitter owns your Tweets. That should at least cause you to pause before posting anything at any site other than your own.  

3: It’s too impersonal

Social networking offers an easy way to meet people — perhaps too easy. No commitment is required, and you can invest as much or as little of your time as you wish. Social networking services can be a great way to keep people at a distance: Interact only when and where you want with whom you want. . I prefer more meaningful ways to interact, like face-to-face and over the phone. People value your full attention and time. Social interaction is only as rewarding as you are willing to make it, whether in person or online.

 4: I want to minimize online gaffes

There is that risqué limerick you shared while in high school or those embarrassing statements you made about a former employer that can be found with a simple Web search. Pity the poor job interviewee grilled by an interviewer who did his homework and found your ignorance, or worse, the bad information you posted about a topic for which you are supposed to be an expert. …, abstinence means never having to say you’re sorry.

 5: I want to minimize data points for possible data mining

Make a spelling mistake or grammatical error and you can be dinged for it forever. For me, it would be embarrassing and a blow to my ego but not a great loss. To a younger person interviewing for a job …..,  It’s  it isn’t that difficult to collect such data  

6: I don’t subscribe to social fads

Call me a rebel, please. I don’t like following the sheep to gain their acceptance. Clothing from Sears has always been my fashion statement, though the local thrift store has of late been getting my business. Twitter and Facebook may just be another fad that comes and goes, like AIM and MySpace. 

7: I don’t like being pressured to join

The sinister way that social networking services sneak into even the most ardent holdout’s daily life is through invitations from friends and family members.. I became a rotten friend when I politely turned down a request to be in a friend’s LinkedIn professional network. Thank goodness my nephews and nieces have yet to ask me to “join up.” I would hate to be a terrible uncle too.  (even worse is that many businesses e.g. airlines, are making facebook membership an essential part of how they communicate  and its a choice  of join or miss out- I choose to miss out).

 8: I don’t need the abuse

Why would I risk being verbally flogged for posting what others might perceive as flame bait? I still don’t need the abuse but, thankfully, I no longer take name calling like “idiot” or “nimrod” as personally as I once did. Being flamed has instead become part of the profession “writer” and a badge of honor.

 9: It’s more work

If your work is anything like my experiences in the cubicle, you already spend enough time typing when you answer emails, update status reports, and write code. It’s just no fun coming home to more of the same.

 This may not apply to you, but when you write for a living, it’s not a lot of fun interacting socially with the written word. I just can’t afford to give away my wisdom for free.

 The bottom line…

…is that it’s just not me (#10). Some of us prefer to keep ourselves to our self. I have heard about certain sites that cater to the courtship rituals of modern Homo sapiens, but every day that goes by I become less modern than the day before. ……..Then there’s the fact that I have yet to find a reason why I should tell countless others how totally devoid of meaning my life really is.

 According to an analysis of tweets by Pear Analytics, 40% of all tweets are pointless babble. I have better ways to atrophy my brain, better ways to slowly turn my gray matter into mush. ….. Personal social interaction could become a lost art. And it would be a shame for humanity to become so impersonal.