Facebook, you are no longer fun or healthy for me. I don't think you are healthy for our country. You are adding to the divide rather than unity. You go against my values of Micah 6:8.
I have had enough. I am tired of the ugliness, lack of civility, and unwillingness to have a dialogue. I am taking a break from you.
Facebook started out being a picnic with friends and family. It's turned into a food fight.
The continuous rants and finger-pointing are too much. I am burned out on political polarization. Facebook users are segregated by ideology and filter all the political content people see through their social networks. People say things on Facebook they would not speak to your face. I have found what people share on social media can be very different from what they value, what they think is essential. Facebook gives people the courage to bully, harass, and be disrespectful.
I am tired of people who refuse to get out of their echo chambers and are always telling instead of asking. I find myself being judgmental and thinking the worst of people I care about.
There is way too much useless information on Facebook that shows up as disinformation, misinformation, and opinion rather than truth and facts. Let's face it, Facebook does not help us to communicate better. If anything, it hurts communication.
I am tired of the continuous postings of where people are eating and what they are eating. I'm tired of the overload of pictures of everything a child does or the family dog does or the cat. (Note: we have a dog who is our 3rd child, but I don't document his daily multiple cutenesses!) People have made Facebook their online continuous photo album. I'm taking a break from all the oversharing.
I realize"likes" are like opioids. It's the addiction to Facebook.
According to Dunbar's Number, the human brain can only deal with about 150 people. Facebook accounts that extend beyond that number are crazy! I have a lot of fringe "friends" who have issues and beliefs that I don't need to hear from or know about.
Facebook is a time-waster. Time saved from being away from Facebook will be spent doing things that are far more healthy for me. I will be going outside, connecting face-to-face with others, reading, writing, and getting more exercise.
If you want to stay in touch with me until I decide to return, if I return, follow this blog or my other blog on my Carrpediem.com website. You are welcome to respond, and I will share your posts as long as they are thoughtful, civil, and factual. You can text me. You can email me. You can say, "Let's meet and have a cup of coffee or a beer."
9 comments:
I'm with you 1000%! Mostly I can't take the bomabardment of horrific news these days and FB just concentrates that plus adds the unhelpful inflammation of opinions and then misinformation and bizarre things that get said online. I barely go on anymore. Only just to connect with groups occasionally. ~Ulla
As in most cases, spot on! I agree with everything in this post but you forgot the one that it has devolved into a ridiculous amount of ads.
I totally understand and agree, Dave. Facebook has its benefits (connecting to friends far away or seldom contacted), but its use by political machines undermines our democracy. I am only indulging in news twice a day now because of the overwhelming negativity it inspires, and Facebook contributes to that as well. We will stay in touch other ways, no doubt, as real friends did before Facebook!
I de-activated my account--opened at the encouragement of Mr. Carrpe!--shortly after I set it up. Anyone out there help me with permanently deleting my FB presence? I can't seem to get there from here. Here's to spending more time in literal face-to-face connections. "You know who your friends are but lookin' in their eyes."
SM gave permission to share his email that he wrote to me concerning this post:
Yes, I would miss you. I won’t miss some of your asshat friends, but I will miss you. What I try to do, and it doesn’t always work. I ignore people like that one guy, I think, who posts stuff on your comments. I was pretty thankful when a friend went off Facebook because he had a few really loony friends that it was hard to ignore. But, as noted, I just try to quickly pass these people by. As a friend tells me about those crazy thoughts that sometimes go through my head, I need to just let them flow in and flow out, and just take the attitude, “well that was interesting” and move on. Why we should be on Facebook? Some thoughts and I do find this to be part of our “act of service to our community”. We need to: ·
- Not react to those who post stupid stuff, and model the way to act in Christian love.·
- We need to logically, spiritually comment on what troubles us. And again, not react when someone slaps us in the face.·
- We need to periodically like or comment on a friend's posts when she posts 15 things a day because she is an 80-year-old widow that needs to know people care about her.·
- We need to periodically like or comment on the thousands of pictures of dogs, cats, babies, children, etc. that people post because they need to know we care.·
- And sometimes, it’s really good for us. Sometimes, we need to see a beautiful smile and we need to remember that while God did create some ugly things, he also created some beautiful things that we can rejoice in.
Yes, a FB friend posts 1000’s of pictures of her children, but sometimes it just warms my heart to see a beautiful smile from a child. To be honest, I’ve come to find that Facebook is a “ministry” for me. While I can get frustrated, irritated, angry, I need to set that aside and remember that I’m here to serve, and some of the people I’m here to serve to live in this medium.
I really think you are exceptional at ministry. You do a great service with what you do, if you can moderate how you react to some of the irritating comments, you could serve us all well.
NN emailed:
I went inactive on Facebook about 8 or 9 months ago. I'm very glad I did. From what I understand Facebook won't actually let you delete your account, only go inactive. My reasons were pretty much the same as yours.
TH emailed:
Dave - I never joined Facebook. I have many friends who have deleted Facebook for the same reasons. You have said it well. I hope you help people to understand your actions. It is worthwhile. God bless you!
BC emailed:
Thank you, David. I’ve had similar feelings about Facebook. I haven’t posted to FB since the start of the year. Now I spend about 3 minutes a week on it, only for work purposes. I realize now what a time-waster it was. Heck, I’ll find other ways to waste my time.
TN emailed:
I will miss you but you can’t escape me – and I understand your rationale. Be well. Be happy. Continue to be the light.
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