Today, I Quite Facebook

I didn't know why I felt the way I felt at times throughout the day or how one minute I could feel good about myself and my actions and the next, feel a bit unsure and weary. It never occured to me until I read a few articles online about the affects of Facebook and other social media platforms. I knew from the get-go I hated Twitter. There was nothing but negative people on there who hated someone else. I never read funny or nice things and if I did, I completely saw them the way I see a UFO in the sky or whatever, which is like never.

Now, I can see Facebook like an anti-depressant drug that doesn't work, or works but has side affects which are worse than the "condition" that you are treating. The "news feed" became cluttered, especially on my page. I had mostly seen posts done by my subscribed pages. Those pages became hateful and some of the commentary was extremely offensive. The comments weren't always directed towards me, but just because a person has a different opinion doesn't give anyone the right to talk about blowing heads off. The way I see it is before Facebook, people had friends - real friends. Real friends are people who call you, text you, go out with you and socialize with you in public settings. Fake friends are on facebook. I only had about 163 friends, but I realized I didn't like some of those friends when I saw their opinions posted. Then I realized how shallow I had become and that no other opinion matters but my own. It's not the way the world works and if these generations of users believe this is the proper way to act, then Facebook is going to be a major cause of why this nation fell apart.

My step-daughter who is 12 doesn't use Facebook. She never cared for it and for a long time, I was worried she wasn't being social. I don't think she uses any media platforms, except Instagram. Does that count? All she does is make and take photos. But it's not a bragging-rights platform - it's strictly sharing. I think. I do see that she has more friends than ever now and they go out almost every weekend to do things. I must say it makes me a bit envious because with Facebook I lost friends. I want to bring back face-to-face interaction. So what if our feelings are hurt by REAL people, at least they are in our face telling the truth. Maybe we'll become greater friends because we see that they have feelings and we cherish their opinions. For some reason, a computer screen makes people forget that humans are on the other side. And I'd hate to see Facebook be the reason anyone would think of suicide or actually commit it because of a comment a person made without thinking twice. I'm sure it has happened, but it won't happen in my book.

I had four major friends on facebook that I spoke to every day - well, "typed" to. I never had their phone numbers or knew where they live since they were in all different areas. However, I didn't think these people were a major part of my life. I barely even knew what they looked like. I only connected with them because we shared the same political opinion. However, opinions shouldn't really make us friends. It's the social, every-day activities that makes us friends and how we treat one another.

So, I'm done. I will find other things to do with my time but I finally figured out how to get Facebook off of my phone since there was no "Uninstall" - as if my Android was forcing me to keep it. Yet, I went into the Applications settings and selected "disable" and now I don't see it or have to be reminded of it. So, it's gone. It's a relief.