Thursday, February 23, 2017

Life Without Facebook

Just over one month ago, I deactivated my Facebook account.  The decision was several months in the making, so life without Facebook is working out just fine.

Yes, election season played a large part in my decision.  For the past six months or so, Facebook has been full of opinionated people who refuse to see another person's perspective.  I can't remember the last time I heard someone say "I understand what you are saying, but what if we thought about it this way...."  Instead, I just heard and read "You're wrong!  I'm right!"

I'm not sure when everyone became an expert on every.single.subject.  I even grew tired of reading the opinions with which I agreed.

I tried the approach of unfollowing and defriending people who seemed to only post about politics.  Unfortunately, that decision led me to seeing less from people who I really used to enjoy. 

Moreover, I noticed people were looking to fight about any topic.  Back in September, I posted about a police involved shooting that happened two miles from my house.  It was a situation that upset me because the story was suspicious and it happened so close to my home.  People who have never liked or commented on my posts, or even wished me a Happy Birthday, had something to say to me for the first time in ten years.  I had defended the black man and not the police which did not sit well with some of my Republican and Conservative "friends."

By January, people were picking fights with me about the Carolina Panthers quarterback, Cam Newton.  No disrespect to my home team, but they weren't even relevant at this point on the season.  Why was someone trying to bring his name up?

Every day became a new topic that someone wanted to fight about.  I tried not to engage, but there are some things I cannot overlook.  I realized it was going to be best for me to walk away.

Not looking at Facebook every day has been a breath of fresh air.  I feel happier.  I roll my eyes less.  I'm less aware of what is going on in the world, but isn't that what the news is for?

If you were to ask, "Do you miss anything about Facebook?" I would have a handful of items:
1. The birthday reminder.  I don't need to wish a Happy Birthday to that girl from high school that I haven't seen in nearly twenty years, but I did use it as a calendar for my friends birthdays.
2. Stalking people.  Yep, I said it.  You can type someone's name into Facebook and there is probably a 95% chance you can find out what they look like, if they are single, where they work, etc.
3. My photos.  I'm realizing that I used Facebook as my photo album and a lot of my photos are not backed up anywhere else.

While this blog isn't meant to inspire anyone else to delete Facebook, you should know that you can survive without.  Until we can MAKE FACEBOOK GREAT AGAIN, you can keep up with me here or on Instagram.