I’ve been spending more time on Facebook lately.
And it’s not a good thing.
I hadn’t really “quit” per se, but I had drastically reduced the amount of time I spent on Facebook before moving to the States.
Here, though, Facebook seems to be an integral part of the social fabric. It seems to be part of finding your community.
Don’t get me wrong, some parts of Facebook are good. I like that community groups are active there, I enjoy friends’ entertaining updates, and I like learning about fun local events.
But at the same time…
Every time I get on Facebook, I become enraged. Sometimes it’s by a news article someone has shared. Other times it’s by a post from a friend.
And then I become further enraged when I remember that Facebook is trying to capitalize on my rage.
It’s a vicious cycle.
No Middle Ground on Facebook
Mostly I get annoyed by the vitriol. The us-them attitudes. The “I’m-right-you’re-wrong” statements. The laments of, “Why can’t everyone be smart like me?”
Sometimes I see posts like this from people I’d expect.
But sometimes I see them from people I know for a fact wouldn’t dare make such strong statements or judgments face-to-face with people.
That gets me even more riled up! That people feel safe saying often hateful things because they’re behind a screen.
So Why Don’t I Quit?
I ask myself this all the time.
I feel like I get very little out of a half-hour spent on Facebook. So is it really worth it to keep coming back?
I don’t have the answer. It’s true that the vast majority of my blog readers find their way here from Facebook. So there’s that…
If I’m honest, though, there is a certain amount of FOMO.
I’m not quite sure what I’m afraid of missing out on, but there it is.
I’m with you. Facebook drives me bonkers, and I haven’t missed it since I deleted mine several years ago. Several of my friends still use it, but they all know I’m not on it, so if there’s something they want me to see, they know they need to find another way to share it with me. Recently, a few colleagues convinced me that having a facebook account would be useful in a professional capacity, in terms of being able to connect with others in the field, see job opportunities, ask questions, etc., so I finally caved and created one. However, it’s very bare bones, has no photos or posts, and isn’t even my real name. Even the “professional” communities drive me a little nuts, so I hardly use it at all. I know instagram is owned by facebook, but at least instagram is mostly just photos, and you can avoid a lot of the drama that facebook seems to inspire.
I’d go for LinkedIn for professional things, though I supposed some people use Facebook for it all. Are you finding it useful for professional things? The thing is, like with any social media platform, it requires a certain amount of time invested to really get what you want out of it. And honestly, I’m just not willing to put in the time required right now! For now, I view Facebook as people’s bully pulpit more than anything else. I feel like I’m being shouted at whenever I spend too much time on there. And to think, I used to think of myself as a social media professional…! How times change!
Yeah, I would definitely consider LinkedIn a more reliable professional site, for sure. I found facebook somewhat useful when I had a few general questions related to my field, that I wanted a broad range of responses to. But other than that, I really haven’t used it much, so I can’t say. You’re probably right that if I put more time in there, I might get more out of it, but . . . I can’t say I really want to! It definitely feels overwhelming in a way that instagram doesn’t usually (at least to me). I miss the good old days when Livejournal was my main source of online connection with people!