So you look around and see everyone is on Facebook. Makes you feel like you're so last century, doesn't it? Don't get down. While there are some 500 million active users on the social network, there are millions more who aren't. You're not alone. There are good reasons for not becoming a part of the Facebook revolution. And if you see "The Social Network," the new film about the company's controversial beginnings, you may discover you don't want to support the dog-eat-dog behavior that created it. Here are 10 reasons someone should NOT join Facebook.

1. It's 1984 in 2010 • You've heard this before, but let's say it again: Facebook can violate your privacy. When you sign up, the default privacy settings open your information for the world to view. It should be the other way around.

2. It's a great tool for stalkers • With features like the new Facebook Places, questionable individuals (read: stalkers) can know where you are at all times. How comforting.

3. It can be a homewrecker • How many times have you heard the story of someone on Facebook hooking up with an old high-school flame and rekindling the romance, leading to a divorce?

4. It's a time sucker • Facebook users spend 700 billion minutes each month using it. Imagine if they spent that time doing something more productive, like, say, finding a cure for cancer.

5. You don't make REAL friends • C'mon. Does your mother really have 853 friends? Not really. She only has two, including you. The rest of those friends don't even know her. They just wanted to be her friend to aid the numbers game.

6. It can be a downer • Too much of the conversation on Facebook is from "Debbie Downers" who spread their negativity like a virus. We really don't want to know how bad your day is going.

7. Everything isn't what it seems • On Facebook, people lie about who they are. Don't believe me? Just read Sean P. Means' review of "Catfish" on page E2.

8. It airs all your dirty laundry • Even if you don't write about yourself, someone else will, and dirty details will be revealed to all of your Facebook friends. And that picture of you throttling a beer while totally drunk at a party will end up on the Facebook pages of all your friends from church. If you join Facebook, forget about running for Congress.

9. It can be a real addiction • "Hello, my name is (insert name here) and I'm a Facebook addict." Yes, it's true, you can be addicted to Facebook. There are even Facebook Anonymous groups you can join. Unfortunately, you'll have to sign up on Facebook to join them.

10. It's turning us into robots • In a recent study by Oxygen Media and Lightspeed Research, 57 percent of young women said they chat with people on Facebook more than they do face-to-face. The site is slowly destroying the art of real conversation.

ohmytech@sltrib.com —

Timeless movie for our times

O See Sean P. Means' interview with "Catfish" star Yaniv "Nev" Schulman on E2.