It’s about 2-3 weeks now into my Facebook (well, almost all social media) detox, and honestly it feels like a little weight has been lifted. I don’t mean this in an addictive sense, as much as the fact that there is less digital ‘noise’ competing for my attention each day.
Yes, there is a slight feeling of a missing out on things, but my interactions with people are more intentional and worthwhile. My friends are still my friends. I use email or text or IM to communicate (like the caveman that I am), and I’m more focused on the world around me.
One unintended benefit I’ve discovered is that I now notice how many times per day/week I hear the phrase: “Did you see what so-and-so posted on Facebook? Can you beleive blahdy-blahdy-blah….?”. Obviously, the answer is no, I haven’t. Also, I realized that I kinda just don’t care. Curating friend circles, comments, someone saying something that unintentionally upset someone from another circle. NO THANKS. Too much mental and emotional energy. Plus, I am apparently getting real world updates on FB anyhow. 🙂
One thing that I am sure missing is a good ‘content distribution & notification’ mechanism. This is really where FB’s power is – in alerting people who CARE about pics of my kids or my random posts. I’d love to see something that is more ‘etherial’ and social network agnostic. I want to post content anywhere, and inform those that I am connected to (varying circles of people would be nice too), without having to give up the content itself to FB, Instagram, Twitter, or other network that will eventually just use it all for ad targeting.
That would be a game changer. I might just have to make it myself.
The backlash is coming…just wait.