How I'm Keeping Up With My Facebook Friends While Off of Facebook

After you don't log into Facebook for more than a day they start sending you emails every day telling you what you are missing out on.

8 Messages? I didn't get that many when I used to log in everyday. I mean, how the hell did people miss this as my profile pic?

I have a theory, maybe people are looking for me on Facebook messenger, unfortunately I never installed that on my phone, but that is my guess for now until I log back in. For those who don't know Facebook Messenger apparently runs as kind of it's own thing, where your Facebook friends can message you off of Facebook. Kinda like other IM programs I suppose. I don't actually have it myself so I don't know, I'm just guessing.

So, let's answer the question, how am I keeping up with my Facebook friends since I'm not currently using Facebook? Um, well, I'm not. As I said before I didn't grab Messenger on my way out so I kinda cut myself off from the whole thing. I did drop links to this blog as well as my Twitter account but as far as I know no one has been by (and if ya do happen to drop in say hi in a comment down below!)

Do I miss my Facebook friends? Yes, some more than others of course but absolutely. I had cultivated a friends list that I'm quite proud of, people from many walks of life not to mention all the family members that I've added along the way. I wonder how people are doing, is this person ok, how's such and such going with so and so, we share so much on Facebook and even as I sit here now, yes, there are 180 people that I'm thinking about wondering how they are doing.

It's weird, but I feel sort of isolated.

Let me try to paint a picture; let's say you are on a boat, and let's make it a cabin cruiser since those are kinda cool, and you hang out on your boat in a lake with several dockside bars. The bar you usually go to is called "Facebook" since that's where all your buddies are and you've been going there for a long time. You sometimes go to the other dockside bars on the same lake, mostly "The Twitter" and "Jack's Place" (my name for this blog in this make believe scenario) but most of the time you go to the Facebook.

So, you are on your boat in the middle of this lake and decide to stop going to Facebook even though that's where all your buddies are, and that leaves just the other two bars. Folks at The Twitter are friendly but it's not the same crowd and the folks that are there are certainly welcoming enough even though it isn't your usual hangout and nobody goes to Jacks Place, mostly because he's kinda lazy and hasn't updated it much lately so it leaves you just kinda hanging out on your boat in the middle of the lake, looking over at the Facebook bar wondering if you should just stop in or stick to your pledge to not stop by, knowing all the while that you'll stick to your pledge since it might be giving you time to do other things, like fix up Jack's Place or go fishing :)

Anyway, that's kind of what it's like, hopefully you understand it better when I mention that I kinda feel isolated. Of course I'm going to see it through, as I said in my first post when I started this journey which is simple, I give up things for Lent to honor Jesus' sacrifice in the desert, yes, but also as a way to improve myself, so that, when it's over and I come back to the thing that I gave up I manage it better, maybe use it for the constructive ways that it can be used instead of, at least in the case of Facebook, a time waster.

And I said this one would be short. I guess not so much, I'll stop promising that lol.

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The next blog post will be about my theories as to why Facebook starts sending out emails telling you what you missed since you last logged into the site, including my thoughts on their data mining.

Was Facebook Supposed to be Addictive?

Go read this long article about Facebook's early days, Sex, Beer, and Coding.

Facebook was meant to be huge, these folks had big ideas and made it happen and look at them now. I mean, it's Facebook.

The same kind of thing used to be said about MySpace, and now, does anyone even go on MySpace anymore? In people years, it wasn't that long ago that MySpace was the place, in fact I even have blogs posted on here from back in the day about how they were censoring musicians, but in internet years, they might have well have existed in the stone age for most of us.

Were people hooked on MySpace the same way that many of us are hooked on Facebook? I think the simple answer is no, the complicated answer is still no because the internet was so different then, with the biggest difference being we didn't have smartphones back then.

So, let's go back to the article, did Mark Zuckerberg and company mean to create a site that people couldn't put down? Absolutely. They took a hard look at what other sites were doing at the time and wanted to create something that did the things they did, but better, much better.

Look at how they did it, the early days of Facebook were insane, it's not so amazing that it worked, but that it didn't crash and burn.

Did they mean to create a site that people literally couldn't live without. I think so, while "Facebook addiction" isn't a term that might have crossed any of their minds back then.

I'm assuming that you've read the article, honestly that's enough reading for one day.

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Next Blog Post; How am I keeping up with people that I only know on Facebook? (this will be a short one)

Giving Up Facebook? Yep, Here is the beginning of the story.....

Well, here I am again. Before we get any further this blog post isn't really Indie Spotlight related, in the distant past I used this page as both for the show, as well as a place where I could put my thoughts of the day and kinda ramble a bit.

This post is definitely more of a personal nature, and there will be more to come.

If you've ever come by here looking for me, and didn't find me, well, there isn't much that I can say other than I'm sorry that I missed you. It would seem that this has happened more than a few times over the years here on the blog page.

As we all know, social media has pretty much replaced blogging, it certainly did with me, after I became more active on Facebook I haven't spent as much time on the blog page as I did in times past, as I said, the internet changed, and evolved.

Or did it?

Times have certainly changed, but can you call it an evolution?

To me to evolve means that things have changed, and for the better, or at least should have. While social media in general, and to me Facebook in particular, are extremely useful tools to keep in touch with people, is there a line where it becomes almost an obsession? Why do we need to log into Facebook everyday, most of us several times a day? Is this social media addiction?

What is going on?

Why do we do this?

Why?

So, I've been one of those who find themselves almost mindlessly scrolling Facebook every day, just because, and oh, this person just updated their profile pic, they've posted in the past that they didn't get many likes on their pictures so I'll give them a like, and oooh, that's a good article I'll share it now, and read it later, I can delete it off of my timeline if, oops, yeah, it's been debunked, crap I just shared it, now I gotta delete it, oh wait, someone liked it now I have to respond.

Shit, my page just reloaded, where was that article that I.......

Aww, the cat rescue that I really like and support just posted a picture of a kitten that just found their forever home, man I gotta click "love" on that post, crap, dammit, where is that article that I just found out was, oh wait, a notification, yep, a response on the article that I meant to delete, and click, there it is, a counterpoint to something that you've already found out isn't entirely accurate, and with a political slant to boot. Ah, you are either a "snowflake" or a "Trumper" and everything is politicized, or at least seems to be.

Or you get "that's fake" or "debunked" and a seven paragraph comment as to why, and God forbid you misspell something, or forget a comma and the grammar police shows up.

There is a reason that at least some of us have started to share only funny videos or cat pictures on Facebook, while I understand that this divisiveness is a mirror of our society today, still, to go to a website and wallow in it seems to me at the very least counterproductive.

I've come to almost hate this existence. I share, what I think is an interesting article, with my honest thoughts on it, and have at times feel like I'm watching World War 3, depending of course on those who comment on it.

And, God forbid that I post something that promotes Vaping! Since I haven't shared this on this page, I'll do it now, I was finally able to quit smoking! Yep, you've already seen how, I switched to vaping. Please don't tell me how "bad" it is  I've already had these arguments on Facebook, and I've been mostly winning them, mostly because of the misinformation that is spread in the lamestream media about it.

I'll make this one as simple as I can, as long as you buy your mods and juice from a reputable vape shop, you are good, if you go black market, good luck because you are gonna need it.

If anyone reading this is interested, I'll be more than happy to talk about how I was able to use vaping to finally quit smoking on October 18, 2018. Comment below, I'll actually see it this time.

Man, I've been all over the place with this blog, but to be honest about it, Facebook can be as well.

So, here I am, Day 1 of my get the hell off of Facebook challenge.....

(edit, yes it took me two days to type this)

Here is how it happened, let me give you a little "Jack" history, especially since 2011 when my mom passed away I've tried to give something up for Lent. To be more that just a little honest about it, losing her hit me really hard, and I found myself in line at McDonalds on a Friday afternoon shortly thereafter and realized it was Lent.

When my turn came I ordered a fish sandwich combo. I was gonna go Big Mac but, yeah, I actually decided in that moment to honor Lent that year.

I ordered something better, at least for me at that time.

Since then, I've chosen something better for me for Lent, keep in mind this is honestly the only thing that I do that can even remotely called "religious". I'll save a better explanation of that in a future blog.

If you might be wondering about other things that I've given up for Lent that I've never talked about, well, let me tell you about the time that I decided to give up energy drinks, this is a good one. I used to chug Red Bull's like they were water, without realizing that yes, you get a nice burst of energy, and I guess you get a release of endorphins, because you don't realize that you kinda feel like crap. The year I gave up energy drinks and stuck with plain 'ole coffee I began to realize that I actually had more energy overall and felt much better.

Just like I did when I gave up smoking.

Maybe my abstinence from Facebook will do the same.

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This is the place where I used to put "show notes" and I'll do that one last time, but going forward this will generally be the place where I mention what the next blog will be about.

The next blog will be about what I think social media "addiction" could be, and why I think we get hooked onto social media sites.


Ok, so *ahem* show notes, one final time;
Because my external hard drive that housed the music, videos, and slideshows crashed last summer, I had to end the "reboot" of Indie Spotlight prematurely. While I had a backup of the music, I lost everything else. Because I was in the process of winding down the live broadcast I didn't see a point in rebuilding the slideshows and ended the broadcast. Also, before I logged out of Facebook the other night, I unpublished the Indie Spotlight page since I wasn't going to be around to answer messages, and monitor the page. I may republish it when I return to Facebook. I had restarted the "daily videos" where a video featuring an independent musician was featured on the page but there didn't seem to be any interest.

Alright, I think that's all for now, see you all on the next blog post.

One More Thing

I don't remember if I've shared the 10th anniversary video on here, but if I hadn't.....

December Update

Hey friends, sorry I haven't updated in a while, sometimes life just kinda happens......

So, here's the latest all that is Indie Spotlight;

First of all I would like to apologize for the abrupt end to the live streaming broadcast. I had a near tragedy with my external hard drive, long story made short it got knocked over while it was spinning and was rendered inoperative. I took it to two different shops, one told me it was "possible to save the data" for $500 -$1500 while the second told me it wasn't salvageable at all and offered to recycle it for me. This is where I stored all the music as well as the video files for the show. The good news is that while I have indeed lost everything else that I had on there, fortunately I had all the music on a thumb drive.

So, while I still have all the music files, I don't have the slideshows, so I would have to redo them which honestly is more work than something that I was in the process of winding down is worth anyway.

Even though I have ended the live streaming broadcast I do plan on resuming the daily video posts on the Indie Spotlight Facebook page very soon so watch for that, and I hope everyone has an amazing holiday season!

Thanks for sticking around!
~ Jack

End of July Update

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't posted in a while but I wanted to take a second and give an update.

I haven't been able to do my weekly live broadcast the last couple of weeks because of my work schedule. As I'm sure everyone knows I'm in the process of winding down the live broadcast and I still want to finish the playlist and do a "grand finale" show so over the next couple of week's I'll be concluding the "One More Time" series, then starting the "Last Call" series favorite songs and stories from days gone by.

Dates and times to be determined at this point, stay tuned because it's not over just yet.

Live Stream Broadcast Ending Soon

As I announced during this evening's broadcast (and just shared from YouTube) I will be ending the live streaming broadcast soon.

When I restarted the show, I called this particular series "One More Time" because it was always my intention to finally finish what I had started, take some time to celebrate all that we've been able to accomplish, have my victory lap, and try to tie up any loose ends that I could, knowing all the while that I wouldn't be able to tie them all.

But still, even with the diminished presence in chat, I call this a successful reboot, because I've gotten to do this one more time and I've enjoyed it, it has always been a special honor to do what few others have done, which is to share amazing music composed by incredible people, and as Pete Berwick said the first time I had him on, to celebrate music, and enjoy music.

Have you watched the 10th anniversary video yet? It really highlights some of the highest points of Indie Spotlight Live, I know I had a ton of fun putting it together and during the live premier on Facebook I was lucky to have someone that was there that remembered all the fun times as well and it was a ton of fun taking that walk down memory lane.

It was then that I realized that doing that video, I had indeed "put the period at the end of the sentence" and had finally positioned Indie Spotlight for a proper sendoff.

So, over the next couple of week's I will continue to use the computer generated playlist that I've been using since January, while putting one final one together that will be sort of a greatest hits song list consisting of fan favorites as well as ones that I've become fond of as well.

While the "One More Time" series will be coming to an end, this isn't the end of Indie Spotlight. I will continue to maintain the social media presence featuring videos that I find on YouTube as well sharing anything else that I relevant that people who follow the Facebook page, Facebook group, or Twitter page might be interested in. I'll be sure to remember the blogger followers as well since you folks have been here since the beginning.

Will I ever bring the live stream back? I'm not gonna lie, I might do a random show here or there, this has been a part of my life for so long that I'm having a hard time saying goodbye to it but to be honest about it, my passion for this isn't anything near what it once was, and hasn't been for a long time and as amazing as it's been doing Indie Spotlight there isn't anything new to do here, and nothing to get really get excited about. What I can say is that I've accomplished at least most of what I wanted to when I started this show. I'm really proud of the run we've had here, it's almost a seductive question to wonder what has changed on the internet over the past 10 years?

We live in an era where pretty much anyone can live stream anything, at any time. Back in the time that Indie Spotlight started on blogtv it was a unique thing, you had to be on a site that hosted it, and now, well you can stream live on Facebook and YouTube on demand at any time. You might ask why I don't just do that, well, while I do go live on Facebook I don't play music, and the same with YouTube because of the same reasons I was picky about a site to broadcast on to begin with, which is the Terms of Service which hardly anyone reads, but if you did, you might realize what rights you give away when you sign up for these sites and I'll leave it at that. Camup understands this kind of thing and has it in their terms of service in a way that respects their broadcasters which can't be said for either of the main players that I mentioned above.

So, you might be wondering what future plans I have if any? Right now I'm not sure, I'd like to get back into doing a newsy/political kind of show either in a podcast format, or similar to what I was doing on blogtalkradio before I started Indie Spotlight. Right now I'm really not sure.

Meanwhile, I'll be spending the next couple of weeks winding down the live broadcast so if you've been wanting to stop by and check it out, I'll be enabling "guest chat" on the page on camup.tv so that everyone can check it out before it all "goes back into the vault". I hope to see ya there and always, thank you all so much for the support over the years, it means a lot.

Live Stream Broadcast Update