Right after October 7, I decided that I would quietly retreat from Facebook. Until a week or so ago, I spent very little time on it, except for one private group related to blogging that I visited several times a week.
Why? I was feeling Facebook was offering little of value to me, and I also did not want to be exposed to any of the hate that seems to be so prevalent on social media.
It was an interesting six weeks or so. Slowly, I missed certain things and started to sneak back, although I spent little time on my personal news feed.
1. Local news - what were businesses up to? Were my favorite farm markets going to stay open past their traditional late October closing dates? (Global warming has made some of that possible). What about the neighborhood Walgreens that had closed with no warning?
2. Were there any events - open houses for the holidays, for example, I was interested in? I had actually missed a couple before I decided I needed to pay more attention. Also, one business was getting ready to move. Our local newspaper seems to report local news days after it happened, which is too bad, because I try to support local journalism.
3. Anyone getting married, having a baby, taking a trip?
4. Anyone seriously ill or with a family member in that situation?
#4 is what did it for me, because it started out with two people I know in real life losing parents (one a mother, one a father) in the past 10 days or so, but then switched to good news, when I read yesterday that a real life friend's sister, who has been hospitalized for weeks, was released to start her long recovery.
So I'm back, officially - for now.
I'm not sure when I'll start being active on my feed again (not that I was that active even before October 7) but I've made up my mind.
...I hope that it works out for you.
ReplyDeleteA lot of my feed has been all about October 7. A lot of us have been feeling alone and scared in the face of rising antisemitism, and we are giving each other virtual hugs.
ReplyDeleteThose are the things that are important, really. The local stuff. The friend stuff. It's easy to mute any people who are spewing the political stuff so you don't have to read it.
ReplyDeleteGlad you're back. I'm the same. For all my griping over Facebook, it's brought me closer to people I adore, more than any other venue in my life.
ReplyDeleteI grapple with the FB dichotomy too, it's frustrating (mostly the way FB blocks posts from those who have liked my page, then offered to show my posts to some of those people - if I pay up), and stressful (the ignorant cult stuff), but it's also a valued connection, one I can't find anywhere else.
ReplyDeleteI've never "taken" to Facebook. I had one years ago and connected to some old high school friends. Nothing in common anymore. You lasted six weeks! That's how long I lasted without a dog.
ReplyDeleteNever been on Facebook and closed my X account ages ago. I keep in contact by phone and email with the important people in my life.
ReplyDeleteFacebook is like my contact book. Also for the special events in the local areas.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty active on social media. Facebook was my first experience and I did a lot of unwise political things early that I have regretted for a long time. I spent a lot of time detoxifying my facebook, unfriending political people (both conservative and not) and joining groups that align with my interests and hobbies and so now my facebook is a pretty darn boring but it doesn't raise my blood pressure.
ReplyDeleteI'm on instagram a lot and I bend over backwards to keep it non-political. Just nice photographs from a wide variety of people.
So now I am struggling with twitter ("X") It resists all efforts at detoxification but I'm still working on it.
FB is my connection to many people - friends and relatives - who I no longer live near or see very often but who are very important to me, so I'll stick with it even though it does frustrate me at times.
ReplyDeleteGot mix feeling. First of all in my opinion, social media COULD be great way to have civil conversation on different topics though out the world. Except algorithms is used in wrong way. I try to only post positive things. If my sons didn't have facebook count. I'm not sure if I would continue to use it or not.
ReplyDeleteI've logged off Facebook for over more than a year now and its fairly peaceful. I just go back to publish my new blog post, or once in a few weeks. But I have a new vice instead -Instagram.
ReplyDelete"No rest for the wicked", someone aptly said.