I did it! I was contemplating leaving Facebook at the end of the year but I actually pulled the plug a little early and did it yesterday. I feel liberated! Liberated from all the ads, memes, posts on political issues, rants and gripes about everything, and flippant remarks. Don't get me wrong, there was a lot of funny, interesting, and heartwarming posts and photos that I truly appreciated and will miss on Facebook but they were mixed in with all the crap and nonsense that overpowered the positive. And after awhile, you start to feel like you've seen everything there is to see. Why not just scale back, you ask? "I have an addiction, sir!"
What also bothered me was that Facebook controlled mostly what I got to see and I wasn't seeing everyone's posts and not everyone could see mine unless it reached a certain level of popularity. It never used to be like this. Plus, every other post is an ad. I know, I'm complaining about a free service that I was using voluntarily, but things change and rather than filling my brain with the content spewed on Facebook, I am choosing to fill it with content chosen and filtered by me instead (what I have control of, anyway). There's nothing I'd love more than to fill my time with classes but that, unfortunately, is NOT free.
I'm not saying Facebook is bad for everyone and not everyone behaves badly. It's how I'm perceiving it lately. For me, as a visual person, what I read affects me more than what I hear and my perception thinking tends to go into overdrive. Do I really want to judge or know a person solely by what they've contributed on Facebook? Not really. It's not natural. But when someone becomes unlikable on Facebook, when you know you like them in real life, something is off-kilter. What's causing this? Maybe it's the posts that reveal inner thoughts and prejudices that most people wouldn't say out loud (at least not to everyone they know) or the ones that you don't necessarily want to read about - like about everyday stresses, politics, daily activities, how much you hate people who dot dot dot. There's are good things to read also, but when negative things are easier to see than the positive, it's time to change the view.
TEAM BLOGGER. I'd oftentimes find myself asking, "how will people take this?" after publishing a post on Facebook. Am I being ignorant? Boastful? Polarizing? It's hard to convey tone without writing a paragraph or two and no one wants to read that much on Facebook. I think this is why I prefer blogging because you tend to go deeper into what you are trying to express (as in topic + support) and you can edit as much as you want. I need a buffer to minimize misinterpretation because there's been more than enough times in my life when my words have been taken the wrong way and I never got a chance to explain. Also, instead of content being thrust upon the reader, the reader seeks you out (or stumbles upon you) and stays with you if what you are writing about resonates with them in a positive way. Team Blogger all the way!
But the number one reason I left Facebook is because my closest friends in (real) life use Facebook rarely, if at all, and isn't that the true purpose of using Facebook? To "help you connect and share with the people in your life?" I do love me some Coach handbags but they are definitely not my peoples.
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