Saturday, February 16, 2019

Good-bye, Facebook!

Ugh!
I'm tired.
And I'm dirty.

We all know that posting links to our social and political perspectives on any social media platform is never going to change the mind of someone with a differing perspective. People don't look to social media for information to educate themselves; only to validate themselves and their opinions.
It seems that the same has become true of the news! We no longer look to the news for news, but rather subscribe only to news outlets that present the news that fits within our own political and social ideology.

If you are caught up in the social media game of political posts and other social shaming, maybe you are also getting tired ... and dirty. I think I'm opting out of the game.

Last December I took a few weeks off of sharing any politically charged posts. I'm going back to that.
As a matter of fact, my Facebook wall will be a "post only" kind of page for a little while. It will have posts when I write something on one of my blogs and pics that I share on Instagram. I doubt that it will have much else.
And ... since I'm not going to be checking my feed for several weeks, if there is something you want me to see or know, you will have to contact me via PM, text, email, or give me a call. I'd love to have a conversation with you -- either on the phone or in person if you are in motorcycle round trip distance (500-600 miles gets me home in time for dinner).

I'm not abandoning the World Wide Web and will most likely maintain my activity levels on Instagram and Twitter. I'm @magicianary on both of those if you want to connect with me on one or both of those platforms. I am trying to change my overall outlook on life and Facebook seems to be getting in the way.
The funny thing is -- it's not other people's posts that are the problem. It's my own posts (and re-posts) that are keeping me from being the person that I want to be.

Yesterday, a pastor on Twitter posted that she was preparing a message on prayer and asked how your prayers have changed over the past several years.
I responded --

"Less to change others to be the way I want them to be; more to change me to be like He wants me to be.
Wow.
Change is hard.
At first, trying to love like Jesus is hard. Later, when you realize how much God loves you, hating becomes hard."

Yeah, I'm still working on it.
And even though hating is becoming more difficult, the sad truth is that indifference is still too easy.

So while the US continues its debate about building a wall, I'm going to work on dismantling the personal walls I have been building for quite some time. When I get the height of the wall down to where we can see each other again (picture Wilson from Tool Time), let's talk.
Until then, I'll be dealing with the never ending job of building up a better John and beginning the task of tearing down walls.

John <><





2 comments:

  1. I think about dumping facebook and blogger at times. I've recently dumped twitter and instagram which I didn't use that much anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  2. allenwoodhaven8:10 PM

    Good luck with this. I think you'll be happier but time will tell. Full disclosure: I'm not on any social media but see some of Facebook and Instagram through my wife. I see some Twitter when reported in the media. Love the photo of the over the fence conversation.

    ReplyDelete