Hello friends
It’s ironic and rather fitting that I have been unable to post the below sentiment directly to my Facebook feed. It gets identified as “spam” and thus gets rejected:
There has been talk of a mass exodus from Facebook for a while now. I think it's overdue. I guess you could say I'm giving my notice. I have recently had less personal interaction on Facebook anyways, particularly with my real life friends and family, and I think that's a good thing. This will make the disconnect less painful for me, it will also open the door for me to reconnect in better, more positive ways.
A few years ago, when I chose to give Facebook another try, I attempted to keep things lighter, more on the fun side. I shared things that I thought were cool and purposeful; yet I continued to find myself drawn in ways that I did not intend. I was joining many groups, even making donations to causes to I thought were useful, but in the end it felt empty, useless. So I continued deep down rabbit holes neither pleasant nor useful, a path all too familiar. I regret none of it, but much of it is no longer welcome in my life.
For reasons becoming more and more real, Facebook and most other social media applications have been and will increasingly be an invasion of our privacy and personal security, ultimately shaping the very choices we make, and thus our overall health and well being. All interactions we make on Facebook are "processed": data mined, censored, extrapolated, and re-introduced to us in new and tempting ways. I thought blocking/tagging advertisements as offensive was the way to go, and it seemed to work for a while, but they are finding new ways to "get me" and/or the blocking technique is no longer working… and I don't like it. I can't stand the bombardment of temptation from useless things.
I am choosing to opt out of the "free" services that Facebook provides, as I have come to believe that there is indeed a cost. Nothing is free. Invisible at first, then seemingly harmless; the cost is ultimately my own useful time and space. And for me, that is far too big a cost. The days after I installed the Facebook app on my phone because of my addiction to be drawn in even while I was away... I realised it was an unneeded distraction. It affected my emotional state while at school, at the gym, or while in transit, and particularly while in the company of other people. Now that my first baby step of schooling is about to end, I have the summer to get myself ready to take my next bigger step forward in September, and I will do it without this anchor of epic distractions.
I plan to stay 'connected' although limited, right here on steemit.com perhaps you have heard of it. I welcome you to follow me but I'm not going to be posting much for awhile. I need to get my feet wet first.
Steemit is similar to Facebook in some respects, but different in most others. The most important reasons to me are those of privacy, lack of censorship, and the end "product".
Facebook is about creating an image FOR you.
Steemit is about creating your own.
