Why Must I Be On Facebook To Prove Myself?

[Jayden]

Ever since I deactivated my Facebook account my friends have been calling me a flake and a loser, I never did anything to them or said anything wrong. Just because I chose not to be on Facebook, twitter, outlook etc. people think I've a jumped off the face of the earth, jeez, is this how people treated each other before the internet came about? Why can't friends/acquaintances be okay with leaving internet chat sites for phone or snail mail? I feel so disrespected and depressed that I have no choice but do something I don't want to do just to prove I'm not ignoring people.
I once had an addiction for social networking websites and can see it still has a bit of a hold on me, I long to be with friends again who I once knew, unfortunately websites are not physical, I cannot hug you, I cannot kiss you, I cannot shake your hand and you cannot see the feeling in my eyes or facial expression as we text message. It can be impersonal as many hide behind their brightly lit computer screens. I feel a strong urge to connect but at that same time I feel an urge to rest my eyes and have a look at real life for a change and not still photos and text.