I believe my Facebook addiction is coming to an end. The more I write here, the less interested I am in what’s going on over there. I have logged on to use the FB chat function to communicate with a few friends, and I use the FB “share” button to let those on my FB friends list know I have something new here. But overall, there’s very little content there that really captures my attention.
It’s my hope that those who read my posts will start commenting here, rather than just clicking the “like” button and moving on. I want to have real conversations with people, I want to touch people’s hearts and I want them to touch mine with what we all have to say. Too much gets lost in FB “hookups” where there’s little commitment and too frequently people misunderstand each other’s intentions because too little time is spent in thought before posting.
Yes, I believe this is the end of the affair.
A Scribbler & A Shutterbug 
I understand the desire to pull away from FB, but I’m not ready to cut that cord yet. The nice thing about it is that I can keep up with what’s going on in my friends’ lives with minimal effort. . . . that . . . . actually sounds worse than I intended once I write it out . . . . hmmmm.
Yes, there’s a lot of junk on FB, but there’s some good there as well. Just have to sift through the cat photos and stupid people memes to find what you’re looking for.
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I completely agree with you, in that I won’t be actually cutting the cord any time soon. I’m hoping it will become more clear that this is the place to go to if you (the general “you”) need or want to reach me.
FB is a good place to find out or keep up with events we may want to participate in, get the word out to others about the same. I plan to continue using it in that capacity. But I have difficulty keeping on task (ADD???) — sometimes scrolling through the kitty pictures is irresistible. 😉
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The other thing to keep in mind is that there’s *some* level of control (albeit harder to manage as FB keeps changing their rules) on who can see your posts, pics and comments. With WordPress blogs, it’s pretty much open to anyone that can find your site. For that reason, some people would probably feel a little more at ease using FB to talk about personal matters than open up here.
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I do understand, also, where you are coming from and I don’t spend nearly as much time on it as I used to. But, that being said —- I have thoroughly enjoyed the connections and the ability to stay in touch better. I do miss the days of writing letters & sending emails and still do try to use those means [and the telephone]. But, at the same time, there are family members [and friends] who are able to see my children and, esp. the grandchildren, grow up [and vice versa] and get to share so many special moments in each other’s lives that we wouldn’t be able to otherwise. I enjoy your writings so much and would truly miss out on that if you would leave.
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Betti, I love seeing all the pictures of your family — especially those gorgeous grand babies! Thank you for visiting me over here!
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That is a heavy concern of mine, too. I think perhaps the openess of the blog format has challenged me (in a good way) to share my personal experiences in a way that doesn’t cross the boundaries of others. I can’t help but think that will motivate me to polish my writing even more. One thing that frustrates me immensely is the “high school drama” of FB. It makes me sad to see the passive-aggressive way it’s used to fish for information, shame people, ridicule them, and fight (often under the pretense of friendship). I recently received a FB message from someone inquiring if everything was “okay”. This person had not contacted me thru FB for any reason in almost 3 years. Another person contacted me by text message wanting to know why we weren’t “friends” any longer (after I explained the thinning of my list a few days before). I might point out this person had deleted me from her list a couple of years ago when she got annoyed with me and then added me back later. This kind of stuff is exhausting! Truthfully, I almost prefer the kitty pictures to worrying about making everyone happy.
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I don’t lose any sleep worrying about whether I’m making everyone happy, but I know that’s a concern for some people. I’ll admit I get pretty snarky on FB, but it’s really because i can limit my conversations with my friends, people who know when to take me seriously and when I’m just poking the bear. A total stranger seeing some of my posts / comments could easily misinterpret my sarcasm or quips to be personally directed or even vicious. My FB friends know when to jump into the comment pool or just click “hide” from their feed.
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I don’t really worry too much about what I say or what people think of it, unless of course, I’ve been thoughtless and truly hurt someone. I don’t want to ever do that. What really bothers me is my response to what other people say. I don’t like that sometimes I get very irritated/angry — I am working on that in my character. 😳
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I agree with fatherofseven that I enjoy lightly following everyone. I certainly do not have 258 close friends but I do enjoy kinda keeping up with everyone. I don’t see a lot of the drama that you talk about. I go through fits and spurts with FB. I do get sick of it sometimes. I have tried Tumblr, Twitter, what’s the other one? Reddit. I enjoy those as well as go through periods where I am on those media more. It just depends on the mood. I have tried blogs but I never had many friends that were bloggers so it felt rather lonely.
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Years ago, I blogged on Xanga. In fact, that is how I met three dear friends (one of whom is txfatherofseven and the other is msh, here on WordPress). I think it is more difficult to make and maintain friendships through blogging, but the friendships I’ve made have been true. I expect some of my issues with social media in general have to do with recent events of a less than pleasant kind (FB people trying to inflict guilt when I recently cleaned house). I don’t feel guilty, but it’s annoying that they tried — annoying in the same way as a mosquito buzzing in one’s ear. It’s nice to know the chance of those people making the effort to come over here is slim to none, so they won’t be telling me I’m running my blog wrong! 😕
I will still be checking your posts — I love seeing the updates on those babies — and keep your eye out for my blog posts, since I will share them on FB.
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Laura, I’m sure you’ve shared this before, but what is your Meyers Briggs Personality type? http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp
I’m an INTJ.
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I have gotten two different results when taking the test. ISTJ and ISFP. So I guess I go back and forth on the thinking/feeling thing. LOL
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Well you know my reasons for leaving Facebook. It has been well over a year and I can say after the first week I haven’t missed it one bit.
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I totally understand. I have seen great things from FB but it can also consume so many hours n a day day, which takes us away from doing the things we are meant to be doing. Thanks Laura, look forward to talking with you here. Wish you could have come to retreat last weekend :).
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