Taking a (permanent?) Facebook break

If asked a few weeks or months ago I would probably not describe myself as a heavy social media user. I had Facebook, but not Instagram or TikTok. I have a Twitter account, but one I rarely use save for business-related tweets. But, I had Facebook, and that was enough. It had become my "home page." I followed news organizations by following them on Facebook. Sports, music, etc., were all fed through Facebook.

I got up in the AM and checked it first. Before bed, it was usually my last stop. In between, I would catch myself scrolling...and scrolling... Hours went by, daily, in small-ish chunks. I was not paying attention to the real world. I was perpetually distracted. 

Worse, I was perpetually irritated, occasionally angry. Because I was seeing a darker side of humanity, and occasionally contributing to the same base instincts.

When you join a Facebook group to follow your town news, who speaks the loudest? The crank with an axe to grind.

When you follow the page of your favorite band, whose comments rocket to the top? The troll, who shit-posts, and gets reactions.

Then, sometimes you respond. And get dragged down into the same mire. And for what reason?

I knew this un-virtuous, illiberal circle was not good for me, but I hung on, for months and even years. I was getting SOME value out of Facebook. I followed my favorite breweries on the platform, and saw their latest releases. I got value out of some old sword-and-sorcery groups, paperback collectors groups. The occasional post from a friend or acquaintance that was genuine, and made me smile. The local news, that fed me stories about a bridge being out so that I could plan a new route. 

And so I kept using the platform.

Unfortunately the noise was drowning out the signal. I saw fewer and fewer friends posting. The ones that were, were often complaining, looking for sympathy I could not deliver over a digital platform, or just posting memes and other nonsense. Arguably harmless, but also a very poor use of my time.

On Saturday I deleted my Facebook account outright, no warning, no good-byes. Did not want to chase one last bit of dopamine in some grand declaration to the world. So I just quit.

So far, I remain off. In a pavlovian reaction that speaks volumes I still go to the page regularly, without thinking, where I'm confronted with a login to an account that no longer exists.

I could undo this--Facebook gives you ample time, and warnings, and pleas to return. But, I'm not planning to. At the minimum, it's going to be a long break that I need.

It's going to be much harder for me to aggregate and follow news, particularly hyper-local stuff. But I"m going to give it a shot. My sanity is worth it.