So, What Have I Learned?

As we come up on Palm Sunday I've decided that since the bible tells us that it took Jesus 40 days to cross the desert, and well I've been there in the "not logging into Facebook" realm just as long, maybe I won't wait until Easter to log back into Facebook but before this self imposed Facebook isolation comes to an end I'd like to take a few minutes and talk about how I'm feeling.

In some ways it's been liberating, when I want to talk about things online I've done it here, on the blog, without pissing someone off. Not that I've had much to say, since all of my posts have been about this journey, but still, I haven't felt the need to carefully word everything I've had to say.

Why would it be different on Facebook? Well, it's actually kinda simple, anyone wandering by this page knows it's mine, which is way different than something they might see on a feed while they scroll through on Facebook. I don't worry about accidentally offending someone here and because blogging isn't as real time as Facebook is, I can start a post, save the draft, and finish it later, it's not as rushed and I have more time to flesh out my thoughts, edit and fix things. Simply put, it's just different.

Another plus? Being off of Facebook has given me time to do other things online, such as playing games, catching up on YouTube videos, this blog,Twitter, and I certainly check my email accounts more than I used to. I can't say that the time has been used constructively but I have found other things to do.

Now let's talk about some of the negatives......

I've already talked about the sense of isolation in a few previous blogs so there is no need to rehash that, especially since I just linked them right there.

What are some of the things that I think I might have missed out on? Well, I think the biggest thing for me is how the hell is everyone? Almost all of the people that I've ever met online I've kept up with on Facebook, as I've mentioned in previous blogs (not linking those, go find 'em yourself) I've really made some amazing friends over the years and managed to keep up with them on Facebook.

Of course, there is family, people that I don't talk to all the time or even often, but yet keep up with them on Facebook. This, at least to me, is one of the greatest things about going onto the site, to see what people that I know, that honestly, I should know much better, are up to, and how they are doing. I think of all the things that I've missed about not logging into Facebook, this I've missed most of all. I'm connected by blood (at least in most cases) to some amazing people.

So, what have I learned?

Well, I just talked about my bad ass family, I really need to find a way to connect better with them in real life, not just online. When I figure out how, I'll let you all know.

Facebook is a powerful tool, and it is important, but shouldn't be constantly checked and lived on. I'm sure when I log back in tomorrow that I'll find that my page is ok, and while I might have missed out on some really important things over the last 40 days it'll all still be there for me to comment on, post a like, sad face, grumpy face, or whatever.

I need my own personal space online, meaning this blog. I think I'll change the name of the blog to something else since I'm really not using it for Indie Spotlight anymore. In fact I might do that after I post this. Maybe the Jack Simpson blog? I dunno. Since I'm not doing Indie Spotlight anymore maybe if I'm going to continue to use this space for personal thoughts that I don't want to post directly on Facebook I obviously need to change the title of it.

Most importantly, yes, I do need Facebook, I don't need to constantly check it every 5 minutes.

Honestly, less might be more, if I do that I won't be pissed off every time I need to change my feed to "most recent".

Who knows?

If you've read through all of my blogs on this journey, first of all, thank you, that is a ton of reading. And, as I mentioned in the first blog of this series, if you've come by on this page in years past with a comment, well, again, sorry that I missed you.

Maybe I was stuck on Facebook, I don't see myself making this same mistake in the future.

Maybe Social (Media) Distancing isn't so bad?

Right now I think that maybe it's a good thing that I'm not on Facebook right now.

(keep in mind of course that my pledge was to stay off of Facebook, not other social media sites)

I'm still using Twitter, well, using might not be the best way to describe it, I'm still on Twitter might be a better way to say it. I retweet things here and there while being careful to preserve the Indie Spotlight brand since that is the page's theme.

Another guideline that I've seen although I'm not sure if it's an official CDC guideline, is to limit the time on social media and just from what I've seen on Twitter I can see why, just the hysteria I'm seeing on just one social media website is more than enough for me.

I just couldn't imagine what my Facebook timeline looks like right now. Part of me wants to pop on and see, and the other more rational part of me realizes that the shitstorm that is likely my FB timeline will still be there whenever I decide to log back in.