Hi Friends,
It’s officially been more than 5 months now since I quit all Meta properties, you know what I mean: Facebook and Instagram. A few weeks ago a friend asked me how it was going with all that. She wanted to know if it was worth it. She wanted to know if I felt disconnected and if I felt like I was missing any things.
So do I feel disconnected? Yes, I do, but I don’t know if that would be any better if I was on Facebook and Instagram. I do feel like I am missing out on seeing some pictures of my nieces and nephews in their sports uniforms or playing sports. I think I might be missing out on seeing friends and family at their birthday parties or graduations and things like that. I know I am missing out on getting some of those pictures.
BUT Do not cry for me. I am not missing everything. I do get some pictures sent directly to me on my phone or email from my sisters, sister-in-law, cousins, aunts, father, and friends. When I get those pictures, I know that the person who sent them to me chose me to sent them to as opposed to passively putting them out into the Metaphere. So I still do see pictures of my nieces and nephews, cousins. and animal relatives because my family members text me. I just don’t see every picture and that is okay. It leaves more to the imagination. It leaves me more to learn that next time that I see them.
As for my disconnection, I can’t blame that all on quitting Meta. I lay that blame on the feet of the changing nature of our world right now. We are in a time of flux. Life is in the process of “going back to normal”.
During the spring of 2020, when I world felt different than it does right now, I participated in a number of Zoom family activities. I actively used the Marco Polo app to make video messages to send to family about our daily activities and to find out about theirs. It was fun. Ultimately thought, the daily checking-in was unsustainable, me thinks, for the pace of life that is lived during normal times. So I miss the connection I felt during the spring and summer of 2020 and the variation of that that existed for some time after that. It is unfortunate that so many people became sick and died because of the coronavirus but at times I am nostalgic for the pace of life and interconnectedness that I felt during the spring of 2020. But this wave of nostalgia that I am feeling cannot be cured by daily scrolling on Facebook, l though I do miss the intimacy that used to exist, it is hard or almost impossible to recreate.
Also when I began exploring the idea of quitting Facebook and Instagram, I thought that I might not be able to do it because I belong to several local parenting and community Facebook groups. I thought that important information might not disseminate to me if I quit.
What I found out by quitting is that the information I feared that I might miss out on isn’t as hidden as I thought because I still manage to find out the information pertaining to my children’s schools and activities. I find that my friends keep me abreast of the important things that I need to know. Sometimes it comes in other forms such as signs around town or in school emails. I am sure that there is some secret information that I never learned about but to my knowledge I haven’t really missed out on any big stuff.
Since quitting Facebook and Instagram, I feel like I try less to put such a fine point on every activity or thought that goes through my head. I think for a while I was trying to produce my life mentally for good content. I haven’t completely quit doing this, as I have a blog and I enjoy telling stories about my life, but I am begun to stop producing my life for content. I have stopped wondering if on holidays I am doing what everyone else is doing or feeling bad if my plans are low key instead of ‘gramable. I feel like I am living a life more similar to life before social media. It feels more like the life, I grew up living.
That’s all for now. I might write more about this subject later. I will keep checking in about this.
Hi, Katie! It’s been fun texting you back and forth!
It is fun texting!
Glad to hear you’re feeling good about your decision to get off of Facebook and Instagram Katie. We miss seeing you guys on there, but I’m glad it makes you happy.
Thanks Katie
So, I think that social media has changed how my brain works, and I don’t like it.
Also, it seems like back before social media, it was much easier to talk shit about people and not get called out for it. For instance, this person that I’m friends with on Facebook (that you don’t personally know) that I will call Padme for the same of anonymity called out people on Facebook one day for taking about other people behind their backs. Padme posted something on Facebook like, “Attention, all of you dance moms who were talking about people behind their backs at yesterday’s dance class. That’s not cool. I overheard you, and I judge you for judging other people.” Or something like that. Padme got a lot of “likes” for that post.
I already had a grudge against Padme, so I thought that she was a jerk for posting this on Facebook. A year or so later, I saw that Padme had posted on a local food page on Facebook something like, “A lot of my friends proudly post their dinners on Instagram. I see those posts, and I think, “Why are you guys eating that crap? Nothing in that dinner is healthy!”
So, I thought, “What if I took a screenshot of this, posted it on Facebook, and called out Padme for talkikng about people behind their backs after she called out other people for doing the same thing?”
Then, I decided not to do this, because it would just be a case of the snake eating its own tail.
So, yeah, social media is making me into someone that I don’t want to become.
Hi Reader,
I was just reading a New York Times article called How Loneliness is Damaging Our House.
It doesn’t deal direclty with this, but sorta.
How Loneliness is Damaging Our Health
You’re not missing seeing pics of my kids. I haven’t been posting much on my page and it’s seldom a picture of one of the kids. Though, I did post a picture on Josh’s birthday at the hospital. I love that pic & will send it to you. That’s been it. Any other pics I’ve sent to the fam in an e-mail or texted you.
Yay! Thanks Annie!