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.
Saturday, April 4, 2020
Thursday, April 2, 2020
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.
(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.
Saturday, March 28, 2020
Friday, March 27, 2020
Have I Cheated and Checked into Facebook?
Man, it really has been hard to not break my pledge, my promise, and not log into Facebook.
I can't count the number of times that I've thought to myself, that to pop on, yeah, it'll be ok, it's cool, let's see whats going on.
And yet, I haven't.
Has it been easy?
Nope, but that was the whole point in this wasn't it?
I can't count the number of times that I've thought to myself, that to pop on, yeah, it'll be ok, it's cool, let's see whats going on.
And yet, I haven't.
Has it been easy?
Nope, but that was the whole point in this wasn't it?
Monday, March 23, 2020
Will I Ever Give Up Facebook for Lent Ever Again?
After Lent is over, and I make my triumphant return to Facebook, will I be giving it up for Lent ever again?
Um, hell no, this has been really hard to do, I really have to commend the people that do this every year. Seriously, how the hell you all do this, every year, I'll never know.
Maybe it's because of all the shit that's going on right now, with the COVID-19 pandemic happening, man, it's hard to put into words what is running through my mind right now.
Would I be a social media justice warrior squashing all the misinformation that is being shared right now? I really don't know, before I began this journey I was really starting to hate all of that. So, would I have gone into sharing more cute and de-stressing things instead? I really don't know.
All I can tell you is this, had I remained on Facebook during this time I would have joined the "stay at home" movement, hell I might have revived the live streaming broadcast for a virtual place for people to hang out, in fact the only reason I haven't done that is because I'm sticking to staying off of Facebook, which would have been my main avenue to promote it.
Since I've already given the short answer to the question above, would I do this again, which is no, now you have the longer answer, which is still no, especially since I feel the isolation that I've talked about in previous blogs in a BIG way.
Facebook has it's purpose, the site has a reason to exist, so now, at least for me is the bigger question, is it a site that we should constantly live on? How different will my relationship with the site when I log back on? We need social media, we are all connected, but does it need to be an obsession?
I think, or at least hope that it'll be very different than how it was before I began this journey. I've learned that while I do need Facebook to find out what's going on, how my friends are dealing with current events, and yes, to be kind of a bullshit buster, I don't need to constantly click back onto the website in an almost obsessive way.
While I do need Facebook, I don't need to come back to Facebook like I was before.
Maybe if nothing else I've learned that along the way.
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Ok, this space at the end of the blog was once show notes, then it turned into what the next blog post would be about, going forward this addendum will no longer exist. I put a TBD on the last blog post because I didn't know what I was going to blog about, and I feel that way now, so, no further need to put a "preview" out there unless I feel like I should.
Um, hell no, this has been really hard to do, I really have to commend the people that do this every year. Seriously, how the hell you all do this, every year, I'll never know.
Maybe it's because of all the shit that's going on right now, with the COVID-19 pandemic happening, man, it's hard to put into words what is running through my mind right now.
Would I be a social media justice warrior squashing all the misinformation that is being shared right now? I really don't know, before I began this journey I was really starting to hate all of that. So, would I have gone into sharing more cute and de-stressing things instead? I really don't know.
All I can tell you is this, had I remained on Facebook during this time I would have joined the "stay at home" movement, hell I might have revived the live streaming broadcast for a virtual place for people to hang out, in fact the only reason I haven't done that is because I'm sticking to staying off of Facebook, which would have been my main avenue to promote it.
Since I've already given the short answer to the question above, would I do this again, which is no, now you have the longer answer, which is still no, especially since I feel the isolation that I've talked about in previous blogs in a BIG way.
Facebook has it's purpose, the site has a reason to exist, so now, at least for me is the bigger question, is it a site that we should constantly live on? How different will my relationship with the site when I log back on? We need social media, we are all connected, but does it need to be an obsession?
I think, or at least hope that it'll be very different than how it was before I began this journey. I've learned that while I do need Facebook to find out what's going on, how my friends are dealing with current events, and yes, to be kind of a bullshit buster, I don't need to constantly click back onto the website in an almost obsessive way.
While I do need Facebook, I don't need to come back to Facebook like I was before.
Maybe if nothing else I've learned that along the way.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Ok, this space at the end of the blog was once show notes, then it turned into what the next blog post would be about, going forward this addendum will no longer exist. I put a TBD on the last blog post because I didn't know what I was going to blog about, and I feel that way now, so, no further need to put a "preview" out there unless I feel like I should.
Sunday, March 22, 2020
RIP Gambler
I've certainly spent more than enough time talking about modern music and how much of it sucks on this page over the years, but maybe not enough time talking about how some get it right, especially the old guard that actually had to pay their dues.
Kenny Rogers was certainly one of those guys.
From Wikipedia;
You picked a fine time to leave us, rest easy gambler.
Kenny Rogers was certainly one of those guys.
From Wikipedia;
Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and entrepreneur. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted more than 120 hit singles across various music genres, and topped the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone. He sold over 100 million records worldwide during his lifetime, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. His fame and career spanned multiple genres: jazz, folk, pop, rock, and country. He remade his career, and was one of the most successful cross-over artists of all time.
You picked a fine time to leave us, rest easy gambler.
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Feeling Just a Bit Left Out
First, the missed notification update......
31 photo tags? And ya'll have seen my current profile picture who in the hell sent me a friend request? Well, in a little less than a month I'll find out. Oh, and we're up to 61 missed notifications, with everything going on I don't doubt that things are a little busy on Facebook these days.
So, without further ado I'll dive into today's topic.
This one has been kind of hard to put into words but I'll give it a go.
I mentioned in one of my previous blog posts about how isolated I feel abstaining from Facebook, and even though I know many of the people on my friends list online only, I am wondering how everyone is doing, not to mention the family members that I've managed to find over the years.
With everything going on with the current COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak, and just everything in general happening in the world today, me not currently using Facebook does have me really feeling disconnected in so many ways. I'm realizing that I get information from so many different posts, until I began this journey I was spending a ton of time on Facebook, and now, I really have to kind of dig for different viewpoints.
Another side effect is that so many official government agencies release information though Facebook, and the media picks it up from there, but I don't feel like I'm "in the loop" since I've gotten used to the almost instantaneous update from the various agencies I follow on Facebook. It's a good thing that I had signed up for newsletters, I've certainly been reading more of my emails lately.
One of the things I really miss right now is seeing the very different points of view on current topics. I know that I've mentioned it before but I have friends on Facebook with very differing points of views on things, I read the posts from all sides of a debate (did you know there are more than 2 sides to a story?) and from that form my own opinion.
I think that the boat analogy I used in one of my previous posts still stands.
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I haven't decided what the next blog post will be about, stay tuned.
31 photo tags? And ya'll have seen my current profile picture who in the hell sent me a friend request? Well, in a little less than a month I'll find out. Oh, and we're up to 61 missed notifications, with everything going on I don't doubt that things are a little busy on Facebook these days.
So, without further ado I'll dive into today's topic.
This one has been kind of hard to put into words but I'll give it a go.
I mentioned in one of my previous blog posts about how isolated I feel abstaining from Facebook, and even though I know many of the people on my friends list online only, I am wondering how everyone is doing, not to mention the family members that I've managed to find over the years.
With everything going on with the current COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak, and just everything in general happening in the world today, me not currently using Facebook does have me really feeling disconnected in so many ways. I'm realizing that I get information from so many different posts, until I began this journey I was spending a ton of time on Facebook, and now, I really have to kind of dig for different viewpoints.
Another side effect is that so many official government agencies release information though Facebook, and the media picks it up from there, but I don't feel like I'm "in the loop" since I've gotten used to the almost instantaneous update from the various agencies I follow on Facebook. It's a good thing that I had signed up for newsletters, I've certainly been reading more of my emails lately.
One of the things I really miss right now is seeing the very different points of view on current topics. I know that I've mentioned it before but I have friends on Facebook with very differing points of views on things, I read the posts from all sides of a debate (did you know there are more than 2 sides to a story?) and from that form my own opinion.
I think that the boat analogy I used in one of my previous posts still stands.
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I haven't decided what the next blog post will be about, stay tuned.
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
Missed Notification Count
It's interesting, I haven't gotten one of these kinds of emails from Facebook since last Friday (3/6), since then the messages have been a bit more personal, such as "you've missed this post from so and so"
Anyway, since last Friday;
You can look at my previous blog post to see the last one, the difference in the amount of notifications is slowing, maybe that's why FB's emails have taken a more personal tone. I'll note in future blog posts how much that number might change between now and when I log back into Facebook.
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In the next blog post I'll talk more about the sense of isolation that I feel not being on Facebook.
Anyway, since last Friday;
You can look at my previous blog post to see the last one, the difference in the amount of notifications is slowing, maybe that's why FB's emails have taken a more personal tone. I'll note in future blog posts how much that number might change between now and when I log back into Facebook.
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In the next blog post I'll talk more about the sense of isolation that I feel not being on Facebook.
Saturday, March 7, 2020
Facebook, Why Do You Care?
So, ok Facebook, unless you see a login that you don't recognize, you haven't emailed me for years, why now?
(side note, I kept email notifications on in case my account becomes compromised while I'm off)
Obviously it's because I haven't logged in over a week. So, why do they care?
Well, honestly, I don't think that Facebook really cares or there is actually anyone at Facebook that actually gives a damn that I haven't logged into their site.
Let me start with this one;
Yep, it's a hoax, when you log into Facebook, you give them permission to use everything you post, everything you share, your photos, permission to plant cookies to see where else you go online, everything, how much and where only depends on your privacy settings but even ramping those up to maximum only protects you from other users, not so much the site itself.
You might be wondering how you gave them this much power over what you post, well, it's in their Terms of Service, which you may or may not have read over before you signed up on the site.
My bet entire? Most people don't read it, even though they clicked the link that said they did. When you do that, well, to be honest, it's on you, since you checked yes that you did read the terms of service.
You said yes to Facebook planting cookies and monitoring how you use the internet. Sorry, you did.
So, let's get back to the original question, which is why do they care?
Well, it's not that they actually "care" so much as they are missing out on data on you that they can package and sell. Keep in mind that while, at least for the end user, Facebook is free at the end of the day they have to pay the bills somehow.
Think of all the data breaches Facebook has had over the years, it really is a treasure trove for those who would want to steal it.
Simply put, when someone who uses Facebook stops, it's one less data point for them to mine and sell. One person obviously isn't such a big deal, but a group of people depending on who they are, well, that might hurt a bit.
I wonder if the people running Facebook have a term for this time of year when people give it up for Lent?
Just a thought.
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Next blog post, let's keep a tally, I get emails on what I'm missing on Facebook, let's start keeping track on missed messages and notifications.
Well, honestly, I don't think that Facebook really cares or there is actually anyone at Facebook that actually gives a damn that I haven't logged into their site.
Let me start with this one;
You might be wondering how you gave them this much power over what you post, well, it's in their Terms of Service, which you may or may not have read over before you signed up on the site.
My bet entire? Most people don't read it, even though they clicked the link that said they did. When you do that, well, to be honest, it's on you, since you checked yes that you did read the terms of service.
You said yes to Facebook planting cookies and monitoring how you use the internet. Sorry, you did.
So, let's get back to the original question, which is why do they care?
Well, it's not that they actually "care" so much as they are missing out on data on you that they can package and sell. Keep in mind that while, at least for the end user, Facebook is free at the end of the day they have to pay the bills somehow.
Think of all the data breaches Facebook has had over the years, it really is a treasure trove for those who would want to steal it.
Simply put, when someone who uses Facebook stops, it's one less data point for them to mine and sell. One person obviously isn't such a big deal, but a group of people depending on who they are, well, that might hurt a bit.
I wonder if the people running Facebook have a term for this time of year when people give it up for Lent?
Just a thought.
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Next blog post, let's keep a tally, I get emails on what I'm missing on Facebook, let's start keeping track on missed messages and notifications.
Sunday, March 1, 2020
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.
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.
Friday, February 28, 2020
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)
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)
Thursday, February 27, 2020
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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
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