Book Much Less
November 10th, 2018
Just over two months ago, I made my exit from Twitter. While I'm slow and it generally takes a while for things to finally sink in for me, I eventually noticed what was happening within that site. You know, bending over for fascists and racists, all while disproportionally penalizing those who took them to task. I retain my account, but I don't participate in Twitter conversations anymore.
On the other hand, I've seen Facebook's problems worsening for a long time. It has developed into what I can only describe as a rogue corporation. Whether through sheer ineptitude or sinister intent, it has aided and abetted the spread of fasicsm around the world. Not to mention actual, physical murders in some countries, on a scale that is actually hard to comprehend.
Thus, I am mostly withdrawing from Facebook, as well. I still have friends and family there, as well as a promotional page for my nerd site (LIKE IT), so I'm not leaving altogether. However, I have mostly sanitized and burned down what I had there, and anything I add henceforth will only remain temporarily, until I ultimately delete it as well.
This will allow me to keep in touch with those people on Facebook that I actually want to keep in touch with, and will prevent Facebook from indefinitely profiting from anything I happen to have shared on it. Sure, they may get transient benefit from me griping about something or other that I hadn't had time to expand upon in Jerk form, here, but that will dry up in time, along with everything else.
That's about as happy a medium as I can come up with for the time being, without becoming a complete digital recluse. Which you'd think is precisely my goal, since search engine placement for the 13 has utterly tanked, and people still tell me they've just discovered that thing. Even though it's literally been online for what, 20.5 years, now? Ugh! But, as is my wont, I have digressed.
So yeah, getting back to the point, minimizing Facebook usage, negating Twitter participation. I read a few things on each, from either folks I care for or strangers whose opinions I appreciate, but that's it. I think that's the smallest amount of antisocial media I have made use of since 2008. And, despite a likely period of withdrawal from it, I'm sure I'll thank myself for this in the long run.
That's what I keep telling myself, at any rate.