Facebook Fast

I've decided to take a Facebook fast.
I don't know how long it will last, but for the next few days I will be absent from Facebook.

Part of the decision is to try to actually engage with people on a more personal level.
Part is a realization that the communities we develop on Facebook are communities of people that are like us. While I do have plenty of people that have differing opinions on various topics, the truth is that I rarely read their posts and I doubt that they read mine. The limited dialog that happens between us is often hijacked by others that don't know me and are usually unreasonable in their comments.

I will continue on Twitter and Instagram.
I get the majority of my news from various links on Twitter and enjoy the photographs and links on the much less political Instagram. Another benefit of those two sites is that you can follow me and I don't have to follow you.

Because those two sites are linked to Facebook, my tweets and pics will still appear on my Facebook page. That doesn't mean that I'll be there to see your likes, reactions, or comments.

And that's another reason for staying off of Facebook -- I think that Facebook has become too many people's source of self-esteem. Far too many (teens, especially) are tied to the number of likes and internet strokes they get in order to feel validated as a person of some importance.

In the end, I may drop in on Facebook for a few minutes after a day or so.
I may end up just giving myself a few minutes daily on Facebook.
But for today I'm taking a break.

I'll probably miss a few birthdays. If I miss yours, I'm sorry.
I'll miss a few humorous memes.
I'll miss a few pet videos.
And I will miss some personal posts, but I doubt that I'll miss anything of great consequence.

I'll continue to blog and to occasionally post on Twitter or Instagram. You can find me as @magicianary on either of those social media forums.

John <><