I remember back in 2006 a friend of mine on MySpace leaving a farewell message to everyone saying she was leaving because she was spending most of her time on Facebook.
In 2009, I was aggressively adding “friends” to my Facebook account in order to spread the news about my new company, Cycling Videos Online. Because the economy crashed, I had lost my job interning as an engineer. We had just moved to Colorado and I didn’t want to just sit around and wait for the phone to ring. So, I worked on my website and made about 100 friend requests each day. I had no idea how that would change my life.
2000 friends later, reading posts from people I didn’t know, I was amazed by the diversity of opinion. At first that diversity was quaint, after a while, it just really made me mad. How is it that I’m seeing so many polarizing opinions one after the other? So many shallow, thoughtless memes? So many insensitive videos? I began thinking, like probably most of you do, that this is just the world we live in.
For 10 years I was completely engaged, and enraged, by the politics, by the hate and blatant attempts at insensitivity. I was sucked in. And, I found that I was spending so much time replying to posts, trying to educate those shallow perspectives into enlightened ones, that my planned bike rides didn’t happen, day after day.
Drained from a day of arguing, “how do people think these things?” I’d get on my trainer and try to finish the day with at least one productive accomplishment.
Today, is my one year anniversary away from Facebook. As a celebration, I looked at all of the posts I’d made during the previous couple of years. I was angry, like most people in this country. I had to skip over a few of my posts because after a year without Facebook, I was embarrassed by what I wrote. I don’t think that way now. Why is that?
After leaving the platform, I decided to go old school. I subscribed to the local Denver Post. I watched local news channels. I communicated with my friends over the phone. And, I spent a lot more time outdoors riding. I’m finding that as I am doing these things, I am becoming more centered, both politically and emotionally. My family, my friends, my community have become more important than my importance on Facebook.
I sent out an email blast a month or so ago and a customer, who I had friended on Facebook, replied angrily asking me to remove him from my email list because I had unfriended him. I’m sure he’s right. I replied and apologized.
So, while Facebook, now under the gun, may create exposure to a lot of ads and advertising revenue, it makes for bad business. Dividing our nation, also divides our customers and divides our businesses. I can eat at Chik-Fil-A (because the spicy chicken is delicious) and watch CNN (because I like Cuomo). I can admire republican points of view and vote democrat. Business and life is not an all or nothing game. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media outlets would have you believe that it is and that you are doing something wrong by buying a 100 year old book because the author said something racist. We are cutting off our hands despite our face and creating a new ignorance by ignoring what the other side has to offer. And, to be perfectly realistic, there is no other side. It’s an illusion created to keep you engaged, keep you from going for a ride, prevent you from meeting real people and having real discussions.
This is my rant. Facebook is gone. I’ve switched to analogue!