Radical

Today, I made the leap to disentangle myself from Facebook. That's pretty radical! I came to this decision after some work drama was aired right out on the page for all the world to see. Normally I would not jump to such a rash (another great r word) decision, but I felt compelled to it. Yesterday, my husband was unfriending people, and changing people's visibility, and importance or whatever, and it sort of hit me that the whole FB thing is really a way to be sort of catty, or gossipy without the face to face interaction that keeps people civil. I mean how many people are we "friends" with that we haven't seen or even spoken to in years? And yet, we check their pages and allow them into our personal business? Why? We can't possibly trust all 287 people we are "friends" with. What's to keep people from doing lasting damage to your name, or business or reputation? Fear would be my guess. Fear of retaliation, fear of being talked about in a vague sort of way that could be about you but gives you plausible deniability later...what is that? Facebook makes people paranoid, it gets in your head. So, after Brian asking me if someone's post was about me, then thinking about all the people we "block" or unfriend or talk about uncharitably, and realizing that I really don't want people in my business...THEN having actual business stuff aired so publicly, I figured, why not stop the cycle of issues, at least as far I am concerned. So, no more facebook. If I am being honest, I have checked Brian's page since I "quit", and probably will again! And I think I will feel a little lost without the constant bombardment and noise. But that is crazy too. It was SO hard to pull the plug, to deactivate my account. I couldn't even delete it, I just turned it off! And my hands were shaking and my stomach hurt until it was over. That's not right. That's crazy! So, it's been about 2 hours, and I have definitely transferred part of my addiction to google+, but I am hopeful that the death grips of social media are a little weaker now. Without a smart phone, I can't even check g+ unless I am at a computer anyway, so at least I know I won't be trying to check things at red lights now! To the rest of you out there feeling bad, or paranoid, or being compelled to check your page every hour, or every 10 minutes, or just leave it open for easy access...there is hope! And if people want to find you, they still can. Privacy is a good thing, and I am delighted to have it back! See you in the real world, people.