We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience. – Facebook on Twitter at high noon today.

Today we’re learning what the world would be like if Facebook went away. Right now, it’s gone. I’ll avoid the technical speculation about the cause of the outage.

No doubt, some users thought the feds finally made good on their threat to break up Facebook. So far, the feds aren’t claiming responsibility. Neither are any of the other usual suspects.

Short term, going cold turkey on Facebook is like quitting cigarettes or heroine. I’m drinking a class of red wine to take the edge off.

A lot of people are act holier than thou when they quit Facebook or cut down on the amount of time spent there. They cite all kinds of reasons: nasty people, politics, ads, companies getting their data, time better spent doing other things like, say, texting.

For many of us, Facebook serves as a clearing house linking us to virtual friends and people in our bricks and mortar neighborhoods, provides links to websites and blogs, connects us to others in special interest areas, tunes us into what’s going on in the world. It’s hard going without it.

Like many people in my generation, I began on CompuServe, jumped to MySpace, and ended up on Facebook. Some peple say Facebook is for old people. Fine, why should that be a detrimental thing? Some people say Facebook shouldn’t let bad guys have accounts. Why not? The rationale for that is that we’re too gullible, ignorant, an unwashed to make our own decisions and will all be led astray if the bad guys get to speak their piece.

Perhaps by the time you read this post, Facebook will be up and running again. Or maybe it’s gone forever for better or worse. Either way, the world will keep on turning and we’ll find new services and/or addictions.

—Malcolm