Last year I deactivated my Facebook account for a few months. This kept everything as is but turned off the ability for people to tag me and find my info when searching. I was generally just tired of the fake and the time suck it had become for me. I also wanted to experiment. Would “friends” reach out to me outside of this tool? Would I miss events and concerts? Would my businesses suffer for not having activity on their pages? There certainly was some “missing out” but nothing earth-shattering.
I activated my account after a while (I’m sure Cambridge Analytica can tell you the exact dates). I went back to being a moderately consistent sharer and group participant. I eventually grew more frustrated with it and deleted the app off my phone but kept my account active.
Now I check in occasionally, generally on just a few groups or specific people. There was a time Facebook was valuable to me and for me and my businesses. But that is no longer the case. And it has been a damaging technology in a lot of ways. It’s primary benefit of staying connected can be achieved in other ways.
”…in regular conversation, people are less apt to present their lives in highlight reels—which makes everyone feel a little more human.” — Sarah Todd
I look forward to more phone calls and lunches and coffee. Breakfast or lunch over FaceTime is lovely for remote connection. You know where to (and not to) find me.
Cheers.