Back in September I expunged Facebook from my life. It was no longer serving me and, in fact, was a detriment to my life. I was using it habitually.
Please Facebook Responsibly
As a blind habit... using Facebook is dangerous. It is much too easy to use it vacuously as a reaction to be bored at any given moment. But I think that being bored from time to time is a hallmark of mental health, just as being hungry from time to time is a sign of physical health. I always feel a bit weird if I do not experience the pangs of hunger for a few days in a row.
As a communications medium Facebook is not good for everything. Most people scan very quickly and spend a long time replying only to the things that are most upsetting to them... for example, the misconstrued headline that causes a person to climb onto their soap-box and preach. No one wins in this situation.
I decided to re-engage yesterday primarily to join a Facebook group for WDS2016, a conference I am attending in August. Beyond a couple of groups, I intend to use it for purposes of:
- getting bad news about good friends
- sharing along articles and my own blog posts
- posting updates
I will not use it for:
- entertainment... The cure-all for every unoccupied moment
- any reply that takes more than 30 seconds to write
- any status update that takes more than 10 seconds to read
- discussion of anything that requires nuance... Or anything that entails going more than 2 replies deep. I will use blog posts for things requiring lengthy explanations and face-to-face conversation for discussions of things that can be upsetting and require tone of voice.