Quitting Facebook is cool, but, like popping your collar or wearing a fedora, you'll probably look ridiculous to all but a select group. ~ The Huffington Post
Read a great article here that pretty much sums up my reasons to leave Facebook. Like the author, I was all the way in, until I wasn't. (I've just never been a half-assed social-media user!) Look, it's hardly earth-shattering this (first-world) decision to leave Facebook; yet, oddly in many ways, quitting Facebook is not untrivial either -- in this modern age, when you consider that 75% of all adults are on it! There's a reason why they say quitting Facebook is akin to committing social suicide; you really do feel disconnected from the perceived everyone. Even so, untangling myself from it (and what a huge IT it is: the contact of real friends and not, the dopamine hit of "likes," the chance to show off a photo or a cleverly worded thought) is nothing short of liberating. Astonishingly so. I find myself going about my day now being more focused on my projects, my thoughts, my emotions. It's like the cobwebs of distractions have been swept aside, partly exposing the raw nub of being alone, casting a faint glow of authenticity, as pretentious as that sounds. I can't explain it well -- it's like I'm my only audience now, so I gotta make it count. There's no image crafting, no need to present only the light flippant side anymore. The ugly pained side of me gets nurtured too.
A character flaw perhaps, but I'm innately wired to be extremely extreme in my likes; it's all or nothing -- I commit or withdraw totalmente. So I've had a good 6-year run on Facebook, perhaps too actively sharing photos and posting updates, never really understanding people who don't offer up anything on their page, yet check in almost daily as just about everyone does. But I'd been noticing more and more that the image I'd crafted -- more truths than lies to be sure, but still -- had become a caricature, a fun, engaging one, but a caricature nevertheless.
I have a big personality; I've always known that. But Facebook enabled it to be magnified (and oftentimes reeling out of control), so that I found myself (and my friends' responses to me) becoming, well, predictable. The disconnect between who I was, an introvert with an extremely dark side, and what I was putting out there, this snarky fun-loving person, bothered me and even came up in conversations several times with real-life friends, giving me pause. And I haven't unpaused since, determined as I am to get to the root of my incessant need for approval and adoration, admittedly not an uncommon trait among humans, yes?
Anyway, I've been wanting another life change for a while now (I guess the empty nest thing wasn't a big enough shakeup -- hah). I'm looking to take my writing to another level, and the idea of a social-media* fast in 2014 sounds pretty radical and appealing. Sure, there are friends whose posts I'll miss, but I'm hoping that if they're true friends, we'll connect in other ways. Change is good. Some changes are even great.
* I don't consider blogging social media, as it was around before the coining of the term, and evokes a different reaction in me, feeling qualitatively different. As such, I'm using this blog as my writing platform. No audience expected though welcomed.
Read a great article here that pretty much sums up my reasons to leave Facebook. Like the author, I was all the way in, until I wasn't. (I've just never been a half-assed social-media user!) Look, it's hardly earth-shattering this (first-world) decision to leave Facebook; yet, oddly in many ways, quitting Facebook is not untrivial either -- in this modern age, when you consider that 75% of all adults are on it! There's a reason why they say quitting Facebook is akin to committing social suicide; you really do feel disconnected from the perceived everyone. Even so, untangling myself from it (and what a huge IT it is: the contact of real friends and not, the dopamine hit of "likes," the chance to show off a photo or a cleverly worded thought) is nothing short of liberating. Astonishingly so. I find myself going about my day now being more focused on my projects, my thoughts, my emotions. It's like the cobwebs of distractions have been swept aside, partly exposing the raw nub of being alone, casting a faint glow of authenticity, as pretentious as that sounds. I can't explain it well -- it's like I'm my only audience now, so I gotta make it count. There's no image crafting, no need to present only the light flippant side anymore. The ugly pained side of me gets nurtured too.
A character flaw perhaps, but I'm innately wired to be extremely extreme in my likes; it's all or nothing -- I commit or withdraw totalmente. So I've had a good 6-year run on Facebook, perhaps too actively sharing photos and posting updates, never really understanding people who don't offer up anything on their page, yet check in almost daily as just about everyone does. But I'd been noticing more and more that the image I'd crafted -- more truths than lies to be sure, but still -- had become a caricature, a fun, engaging one, but a caricature nevertheless.
I have a big personality; I've always known that. But Facebook enabled it to be magnified (and oftentimes reeling out of control), so that I found myself (and my friends' responses to me) becoming, well, predictable. The disconnect between who I was, an introvert with an extremely dark side, and what I was putting out there, this snarky fun-loving person, bothered me and even came up in conversations several times with real-life friends, giving me pause. And I haven't unpaused since, determined as I am to get to the root of my incessant need for approval and adoration, admittedly not an uncommon trait among humans, yes?
Anyway, I've been wanting another life change for a while now (I guess the empty nest thing wasn't a big enough shakeup -- hah). I'm looking to take my writing to another level, and the idea of a social-media* fast in 2014 sounds pretty radical and appealing. Sure, there are friends whose posts I'll miss, but I'm hoping that if they're true friends, we'll connect in other ways. Change is good. Some changes are even great.
* I don't consider blogging social media, as it was around before the coining of the term, and evokes a different reaction in me, feeling qualitatively different. As such, I'm using this blog as my writing platform. No audience expected though welcomed.
Weda, I'll follow you anywhere. Thanks for the recent reading tips. Happy New Year! Donna
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