TAP 55/70-Absence may not make the heart grow fonder…

I was one of those people that refused to get on social media, for years. I had no desire to see what everyone was doing, to send and accept friend requests from people I knew, but never spoke to, and to fend off requests from the spammers and scammers that only wanted me to send them money back from their fraudulent wire transfer. I avoided it for years, YEARS, and then a friend finally broke me down and convinced me to get online.

Honestly, for a long while, it was great to connect with people I hadn’t seen or spoken to for years. I rekindled some great friendships that had gotten lost in time, I connected with some distant relatives, and I ended up making some new friends via groups, workshops, and they have become good friends over time. Facebook has it’s pluses, but it surely has it’s minuses too.

FOMO-fear of missing out, is a very real thing for many people. If they miss out, they may be out of the loop, and possibly could be left behind or not included with friends…all because they weren’t socially connected online. It can cause many folks to have anxiety, FOMO, which means they become even more dependent on social media. Basically, it becomes like a drug, to be seen, heard, to see, to hear…it is like an addiction. Is there a cure?

Another danger is viewing Facebook, or other social media outlets as news outlets on a National platform, for community news, personal news…truly it can be a one sided, paid for, big ass danger. Speaking of paying for, how many things have you purchased by being on Facebook, seeing ads, and then purchasing those items? Hey, no judgments, I have been there. It’s almost like they know what you were talking about with your spouse, or friend, or maybe you just looked at something earlier in the day or week. *Wink, wink*

Facebook may be a person’s biggest interaction with people on any given day, eliminating the need for in person interaction, or at minimum, replacing in person interaction. This is truly not what is best for us, in a multitude of ways. To me, it takes away from personal connection, and leaves a lot to read between the lines, ruining actual communication and relationships. There is a lot to be said about facial expressions, energy exchange, touch, etc that we do in person.

How many people have you lost as friends, or unfollowed the last couple of years due to political friction, differing climate change view points, whether you had the vaccine or not, which group of people you feel are the Devil incarnate, and who needs a champion because they are stomped on by those devils in disguise??? I can say that I have unfriended people, I have also unfollowed people, and I don’t feel bad or regret it. I guess when I think about it, it was better to run in to people occasionally at the grocery store, be happy to see them, still consider them friends, and be happy to know we both supported our community, our schools, etc etc etc. That may sound idealistic, but realistically, we all don’t think the same, and truthfully, there is very little wrong with that, until we are told it is a huge problem and we better act on it or we are just as guilty as the “bad guys”.

With where my life is at, I felt it best to take a break from FB, and it was the right thing for me. I have been saying for a while that I need to evaluate my social media usage, and I have been. I find that I have not missed Facebook, but if I don’t post there, it cuts down on access to my posts for a lot of people…so that just makes me need to keep that connection online, to be able to share my words and work. I think there is a compromise though, I think I will continue to share my work, written or photographed, on social media platforms, but my personal interaction will be reserved more so for in person interaction. This is where I am at, and what I want to do.

Have you considered what social media demands from you, in the many aspects that it does? Have you cut back on social media for any reason? I would love to know what and how you think about Facebook, or other social media platforms, take them, leave them, or what? Drop me a line, let me know!