Monday 3 June 2019

What I Discovered During 11 Week Absence From Facebook


On 16 March, I posted a photo on my Facebook timeline taken from the window of a Virgin Boeing as it landed in Brisbane. It was of a wet and dreary tarmac. That was 11 weeks ago and I have not visited Facebook since.

It wasn’t a conscious decision to stay away, it just happened. One day became 2, became 3. The days became weeks and the weeks added up.

I had never seen myself as someone who constantly updates their timeline. If anything, my posts are predictable, repetitious, even boring and inevitably include a photo of a sunrise.

I see my world as unremarkable.

These last weeks, I have been contemplating leaving Facebook for good but before doing so, gave consideration to what I would be missing out on, and if I have missed anything these last 11 weeks.

During this time, I became a Grand Uncle for the second time and chances are, I have not seen any, or many photos of Penelope, or her Sister.

I have friends living overseas and now have an 11 week gap in what is happening in their world, their adventures and removations.

Another friend is exploring Kangaroo Island and I have only seen the occasional photo by way of a message.

Yet another has been heading to Darwin via the West Australian coast. He is “notorious” for taking great photographs and I have missed them all.

Another has just left for the Women’s World Cup (Soccer), others have run marathons in Boston and London, trekked the Camino and cycled the Dolomites, not to forget an epic bike ride from Land's End to John O'Groats.

We all have friends. All are important and in our ever busy and complex lives, we do not find or make time to call, e-mail, write or message as often as we might have done in the past. 
That’s not to say we care less, are less interested or desire to be less connected.

Facebook has facilitated the refreshing of friendships past. Work colleagues from an era that was far more carefree, pre children and where the biggest problem was having enough money left over each week to go out for a beer.

Facebook has allowed the finding of school friends and forming some effectively new, valuable and fulfilling friendships. There is something very special about getting to know again, people I last knew at age 18.

For all I know, during the last 11 weeks friends have become engaged, become grandparents, parents or suffered loss. New jobs have commenced, new adventures embarked upon and I am none the wiser.

I understand that Facebook can be toxic, biased, cruel, horrible and divisive but ultimately, we get to choose what we participate in and how we interact with the platform.

My 11 week Facebook sabbatical has allowed me to understand and newly appreciate the people in my life and in a very real way, these include Facebook Friends.

Besides, if I do return to Facebook, I will miss the inside action of the Women’s World Cup. Let the photos flow Geoff.  

1 comment:

ETrust said...

Colin,

A thoughtful post.

I have opting in and out at various times of the various social media sites.

Often it has been at disgust at the way they are hijacked, or the way I have seen people I know bullied, or concern at the privacy and security aspects, and the latest thing was reading how the US Government are now insisting on access to peoples social media profiles to assess their suitability for a Visa (not the Visa Waiver program countries like Australia thankfully).

So those are the cons.

Generations younger than ours however understand the transactional nature of these platforms and data - and accept it as a positive net gain. Being somewhat pragmatic I tend to agree.

As far as the hate speech and the like (I include politicians spreading their 'interesting' viewpoints), I just refuse to engage in it - these days. In the same way I don't really watch TV - I just filter out all the 'opinions'.

I find this helps a great deal. It may well explain why Facebook is losing membership amongst the younger generations in favour of alternatives like Instagram (Facebook owned anyhow).

Like you, the reasons I keep it:

1. Staying connected with friends who I probably otherwise would not always have time to catch up with

2.Admiring travel and event photos

3.Networking to catch up and organise events

4.Maintaining a travel log with photos that we can look back on.

I don't subscribe to the evil empire stance - I just take it for what I can get out of it - and never bother (anymore) to share or join in on a political opinion, or pile on on a controversial subject.