by Curt Kovener 
Facebook has become such a pervasive force in modern society that increasing numbers of employers, and even some psychologists, believe people who aren’t on social networking sites are ‘suspicious.’ And so do I.
The German magazine Der Taggspiegel went so far as to point out that accused theater shooter James Holmes and Norwegian mass murder Anders Behring Breivik have common ground in their lack of Facebook profiles.
Maybe this is where I should disclose: I am not on Facebook. My spam filter fills with 50 gazillione-mails each week. I do not have time to keep up with my friended friends who apparently have too much time to post that their new puppy is almost house broken or they recently plucked out what they first thought was a gray hair or with the drought they haven’t mowed their grass in 4-weeks.
I don’t care.
On a more tangible level, Forbes.com reports that human resources departments across the country are becoming more wary of young job candidates who don’t use the site.
What bothers me and should you, is that even though you are not on Facebook doesn’t mean your image is not somewhere on Facebook. Have your photo taken at a family reunion and a family member posts it to their Facebook page, it apparently gets sent to all of that family member’s friends.
So those drink-fests in college, painting your face and chest in the school colors to show your spirit, or other stupid kid tricks can come back to haunt would be job seekers. Have a picture posted of you wearing just a lampshade and tidy whitey underwear and a friend of a friend of a friend could make that photo end up on your Pastor’s Facebook page. Ooops!
That can possibly substantiate the axiom “Fools’ names, fools’ faces always seen in public places.”
The common concern among bosses is that a lack of Facebook could mean the applicant’s account could be so full of red flags that it had to be deleted.
Slate.com Advice Columnist, Emily Yoffee points out that these judgments don’t apply to older people who were already productive adults before social media became widespread.
Well, thank goodness for that!
The tech news site Slashdot summed up Der Taggspiegel’s story about social networking as ‘not having a Facebook account could be the first sign that you are a mass murderer.’
By not being on Facebook it does not mean I am a psychoparth, sociopath, or that I can’t find the path. It means that I am just suspicious: suspicious of Facebook.
