My Facebook Philosophy

Facebook logo Español: Logotipo de Facebook Français : Logo de Facebook Tiếng Việt: Logo Facebook (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Recently I left on a long road trip.  I had gathered all my video equipment and had visions of making vlogs of my travels like so many hundreds of others have done on Youtube.  It didn't happen that way though.  I gave it a few shots, took some photos, and videos but my attention was always on what I was doing, and who I was visiting with.

I never saw Facebook as a destructive thing.  I always kept my post positive and PC and it never gave me a headache.  The realization I had was at a point in my vacation where I was ignoring the company I was with to browse Facebook. I wasn't focusing on the friends in my presence and what for?

I did an experiment and the next time I opened Facebook I counted how many post I viewed before I found anything that was entertaining. I counted 20 the first time.  There were many post by friends past, old crushes, acquaintances, and friends from old lives that have well moved on. There was also a ton of click bait.

The next time I went on Facebook I counted over forty post and ads before I got distracted with some click bait.

I thought about Facebook for a long time before deciding to de-activate it. This was about halfway through my road trip to visit my dad in Albuquerque. Quickly I realized how many other apps on my phone require my Facebook account. Waze, Oculus, and my contacts all use Facebook.

I went through logging out and de-activating several more times over the next few days. I was heading up through Denver and wanted to visit an old friend so I needed to get ahold of her on Facebook.  Then I de-activated it once again.

All this de-activating and activating got me out of the habit of checking Facebook all the time.  I was pretty happy with that until I started receiving messages from friends that thought I deleted them, or blocked them. I had no idea that I would be accused of being shady for not having an online presence.
I learned a lot.  I learned that you can look away from Facebook, but will have hell to pay if you quit. Many apps won't work and apparently if you do not have an online presence anymore and are capable of doing so you will be ostracized and lose trust.

Times have changed.  I guess I am just getting older. I choose to write long winded articles that nobody that actually know me read.  I am sure some people that actually do know me read it, but mostly just find what I write when they are looking for it.

My new philosophy on Facebook.

You cannot get rid of Facebook without a negative social stigma, and many apps you can not use without an account.

Many westerners believe that Buddhist don't like photographs because it steals their soul. That is actually not true at all, but was an early mis-interpretation. They believe that photos do not reflect the present - so looking at them reminds you of what was in the past in the present.  It is not a bad or evil thing, but a twist that can take away from living in the present.

Facebook is like a life photograph I suppose. It shows that you have had nothing to hide as long as you make little glimpses of your life out publicly. It doesn't really, but that seems to be the stigma.  Unfortunately when I find someones Facebook I too feel I know more about them, but do I? I have only met very few old friends from a long time ago, and I would have been better off meeting a stranger.  I did not know them at all and my perception of them was distorted by years of flowery post.  I assumed they were everything they portrayed.  I fell for the pretty packaging.  We all do, that is why there is so much.  We don't advertise the bad things about ourselves, our problems, or quirks.

That is why I blog.  I like to write my thoughts out in lots of words.  I like to imagine that someone will read this and actually comprehend what I am saying.  I don't really care to hear from you unless you want to disagree with me,  you want to challenge my train of thought, set me on a straight path, or enlighten me. That is the only way I refine what I believe.

Socrates said, "I can teach you nothing, only make you think." I like to think and it is a past time.  I don't want to drive those I love crazy with it, and I certainly don't want to hear every opinion on what I write.

For years I have had Facebook, and for years I have been blogging.  I have deleted some blogs, but mostly all reflect my thoughts, feelings, and philosophy at the time I wrote them.

So I will have a Facebook.  I will not be checking it, and hopefully all those apps I use don't distract my friends list. Instead I will by happily sharing my life as I do on my blog.

As for Facebook.. There is a time and a place for it, it is a tool. I will be using my other tools, where I can type many more words and express myself in long winded tangents.