This weekend, I did some online housecleaning -- basically, I changed 80% of my Facebook "Friends" into "Acquaintances," and removed them from my daily feed. Wow, that felt good. I check Facebook a couple times each day, usually to see what my sister is up to, or a couple family members or Friends that I enjoy hearing about. But that other 80% was comprised chiefly of women in my community whom I know, or knew, only very casually. I see them on the school yard, or on my neighborhood streets; most don't even acknowlege me. And vice versa. Yet there they were every day in my feed, filling my head with their gossip and worries and political views and dogs and kid-bragging and dinners out and UGH. The semantics of them being my alleged "Friends" was getting me down. Enough.
I woke up Sunday morning with this realization: It's been several years since I was involved with the MOMS Club. So why am I still involved, even peripherally, with all these moms? And why would I want to share photos of my own kid-bragging with them, when they don't even know my children except by name? I logged on, and snip-snap: Done. A place for everything, and everything in its place, as Mary Poppins would say.
The results have cheered me immensely. I just don't need to know. Ignorance is bliss. (Many times I've considered deleting my personal Facebook account entirely, but don't really want to do that. And besides, then I'd never get to see the gorgeous shots that my friend Becky shares of her hikes in the high Sierras.)
Speaking of Facebook, why not Like my Reading Nest page on Facebook? (There's also a link over there on the right.) It's a
Finally, here's a shot from this Sunday morning, of a quick cinnamon roll thing I baked from refrigerated biscuits, via one of my Pinterest boards. Here it sits on my island, in front of my little baking-themed tree.
I swear, this post wasn't going to be a shameless plug for my FB page. Actually, I was gonna rant about how my children can eat an entire pouch of bright blue Fun Dip, plus the candy stick and be just fine, yet balk at eating my cinnamon bread because it looked too sweet.
Freakin' kids. Freakin' Facebook. You gotta love 'em.
I actually did delete my facebook page over a year ago, and it was such a good move. Most of my close friends and I keep in touch via email instead. There's just something off to me about laying your life out for everyone to see, and to people who just don't care about you. I prefer twitter, because I have smarter interactions there, as opposed to looking at what people had for breakfast and hearing gossip. I can certainly understand however, how facebook is useful for others who can only really keep in touch with family and friends through it.
ReplyDeleteHila,
DeleteHow freeing that would be! Yet I can't quite go there, for the reasons in this post. And you're right: they just don't care about me, but I understand that it's oh-so-fun to play voyeur. I grapple with the issues of privacy vs. laying my life out there, always. Especially in light of also keeping this blog (which I'm careful to keep away from my personal FB account).
Thanks for your thoughts; I'm always particularly honored when you stop by!
Oh, how I wish that liking your page on FB would mean that it would show up on my feed. Liked it anyway. I can always hope.
ReplyDeleteI have a constant struggle with social media. I know I'm supposed to like Twitter, but I really don't. (And I guess it doesn't really like me. I have an embarrassingly small number of followers.) I used to like FB for the blog, but I know very few of those who've liked the blog page ever see it. Oh well on both counts. And I'm hearing you on all those acquaintances. I think life would be better without either of these things, but I can't seem to cut myself off from them entirely. I tell myself it's because I blog, but I don't know if that's true.