Information information everywhere and not a thought to think.
I quit facebook again, and this time it feels like for real, at least for now. Three things really tipped me over the edge.
The Time Value of Time
The first was how time consuming it was. I could sink hours into it at a time, and not remember a single thing that I saw. It was a blur. It was like getting blackout drunk. Getting tipsy is fun, but getting wasted is not. Time is the most precious resource on earth because you can never get it back. Once it’s spent, it’s spent forever. I wasn’t getting any value for the time spent on facebook. I was just spending it. And just like an alcoholic, I kept going back, not matter how badly it screwed with my life. The first step is admitting you have a problem, and I can easily admit you have a problem.
Dirty Slots
The second is that it was addicting like a slot machine. I would post something funny, and then check back after 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, an hour, a day, a week, a month. I kept coming back to check how many laugh emojis I got. I wanted to know who was engaging with my “art work.” I considered myself a “facebook status comedian.” In hindsight, it’s embarrassing. I was creating art for corporate overlords that paid me in laugh emojis. “Here’s an idea, try being a real comedian and doing it for the laugh emotions of people.” I say to myself. I don’t need corporate overlords to create a platform. I’m not their puppet doing their tricks. I’m my own puppet and I’ll do my own tricks!
Whose Update is it Anyway?
Welcome to facebook, where the points are made up and the jokes are too. I realized that the points are made up and no one cares, and the people who do care, don’t matter. I watched an episode of the TV show “Black Mirror” that parodies our current world of being obsessed with rating each other and how it’s turned us all into popularity monsters. Then I watched an episode of “Community” which parodied Black Mirror. I realized I don’t want to be like those people. It was a good wake up call. It’s also liberating now that I don’t know and don’t care about what other people think of my facebook updates.
It’s been good without it. I feel like I broke up with an pitiful partner. Queue the music up: Cher’s “I don’t need you anymore,” Gloria Gaynor’s “I will survive” and Elton John’s “I’m Still Standing.”