Hello lovelies!
As humans, we have a shared existence at times. The feelings that well up within us and crash over us are not unique to us as individuals - there are not many among us who have not felt the pangs for the summer sunset in the middle of dreary grey, cold winters, nor those who are foreign to the way that sweat forms upon our brows as we labor beneath the blazing sun. Many of us know the feelings of longing, of hunger, of thirst, and of satisfaction. But above all of these things, I believe that we all share something even more basic to the human condition - a question, one that looms deep within our very souls, and the tremendous wonder at moments in our lives - why on all of God's green earth do we have a facebook account?
This question, although it seems ancient for all of the times this river of thought has driven a path by coursing through our very souls, is relatively new on the planet in the scheme of things. Perhaps you have wondered it yourself recently.
What makes us wrestle over it? What holds us back from a clean break? Why do we cling? Why do we wish it gone? Why are we tugged in both directions?
I cannot answer that for you, but what I know I will offer for your consideration.
But before I do, I want to tell you of my relationship with facebook.
It started out really early. I was one of the early adopters. I have a younger sister and younger family members who joined when it was advertised as a college yearbook. As soon as it was open to non-college students at the end of 2006, I jumped in. I was fascinated with being able to have a page that I could make and post whatever status I wanted while also being able to hop around and visit people I knew virtually. What a novelty! What a genius and fun idea! I was excited to check in on a regular basis to see how everyone was doing, to look at their pictures, and to have a view into a corner of their lives - I was exploring that interesting new balance of socializing through a screen.
I loved seeing new people finally come aboard, people that I had known from high school or college that I hadn't seen in a long time and didn't have contact information for. I loved seeing that they had children and that they were happy and that some of them looked exactly the same as they did when I knew them. It was fun to be able to see how the teenage person I knew grew into a mature adult (for most of them, anyway) with jobs and adventures. It was nice to see that they had made it and what they had made of themselves.
Years and years later, more and more people joined the party. And then one day, The Thing happened. I got a friend request from my mother. My mom was on facebook? My mom? For real? And then my dad joined. And then my grandmother-in-law. The community was looking very different and my "audience" was spread from friends out to family and over to people I worked with and everyone else I had ever known on earth.
It was fine for a few years and then the arguments started. Some people were really political and it seemed that this was the place to try to further your political party with your undying support. It was a forum for discussion, and for the most part in the beginning, it was fairly civil, although I am sure people felt some heat in their bellies when they were arguing their cause.
I'm not sure exactly what the line was, but I watched it happen right in front of my eyes. I watched people behave differently to others because they were behind a screen and then removed the person from the information that they were connecting to on the monitor. It was as if all social rules were off of the table and you could just open up and say whatever you wanted to because it wasn't in real time, and it wasn't in your voice, it was only text, and that isn't a big deal. I watched people remove personhood from those who were called their friends so that they could argue perpetually about different things.
At some point, I decided to delete my account. I wasn't happy with all of the crazy and it really just didn't feel worth it. After all, if I was looking for connection, this certainly wasn't it.
After a few more years went by, I decided that I missed seeing people and I would just jump in and keep it fun, check in only occasionally, and use it as a way to help others with health coaching and my business. It was okay, but it wasn't how it used to be. I didn't get the kind of personal interactions that I was looking for, but that was because I wasn't putting it out there on my side. It was boring, but also kind of mean out there. It was a place where I used to scroll through and make sure I was caught up on everyone, but it became a place where I couldn't be bothered to even read more than a few updates. I would only comment on something if it seemed like something that was impossible for me to personally neglect. I checked on it less and less until I deactivated it for a few months at a time.
I loved Facebook for the advertisement of my book and for a place I could share myself being silly in videos or peeking in on long lost friends, but it was really losing its luster. I wanted to have a place to share my writing, but even that seemed like it couldn't possibly be worth the garbage I had to dig through to get it out there, not to mention the way that we are being mined for data, violated on privacy, and advertised to in order to line the pockets of Zuck and his homies.
Finally, I decided - it was time. What it was taking was more than what it was giving, and it had run its course.
Last month, I clicked "Delete Account". If you have done this before, you know that it isn't a swift process. They send you a message letting you know that for the next 30 days, your account will be in limbo. It will hover between heaven and earth, accessible for you if you will just simply log in and ask for forgiveness and get back to it. This time, I counted down the days until it would come true and everything would be really gone for good.
Today the sun sets on the last day of me being part of a facebook world. It was fun while it lasted, and that era had some good things, but it is over now. It is not worth feeling angst and revulsion over people that I think I really like in real life. It is not worth the data mining. It is not worth feeling like I'm making my stress level go to 100 from looking at people's opinions and arguments. It is not worth being part of a place that censors information. It is just not worth it. Life is better without it.
I'm glad to be on the other side. Maybe you would like it, too?
Peace, love, and freedom,
Ms. Daisy
Showing posts with label facebook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label facebook. Show all posts
Monday, July 13, 2020
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
The Fear Factory
'Ello lovelies! (Go back and try again in a British accent if you didn't do that the first time around.)
What a year so far, amirite?
It's been enough of a wild ride on the free-flowing, wavy scrolls of hoarded toilet paper, diving deep into the deepest depths of oceans of hand sanitizer for any of us to likely want to climb aboard the crazy train again any time soon.
I am sure that many of us have had significant time to ponder and reflect on many new things (including - but not limited to - what you might trade toilet paper for and if you were going to be adventurous enough to make your own hand sanitizer from your liquor cabinet). There are a few things that I have been rolling over in my head and I thought to share one with you today. Are you ready for a ride into my brain? It's wilder than the life of a Costco toilet paper roll.
I think that if there was one emotion that could be collected and weighed across all of humanity starting somewhere in late winter, fear would come in first place. In many of our lifetimes, we have never had to deal with something that had such a wide span, affecting so many all at once. One day we woke up and schools were closed. And then the next day, they were closed for the year (three months out). The next day, people were afraid of airports. The next day, people were working from home. The next day, we watched Italy singing from balconies, locked in their homes. The next day, we were locked in our homes and high fives and hugs were essentially declared illegal. The next, they took away baseball. The next, people started wearing hazmat suits and disinfecting their groceries.
There is absolutely no reason that you could have ever gotten to a hazmat suit and a pile of $37 N95 masks that you burn inside out in your driveway on the way in and tossing your Rice Krispies into a bathtub of bleach without being completely terrified of something. Three and half months ago, if you would have done that, they would have called 911 and put you into a mental institution. Today, you're asked for your bleach concentration recipe and stared at for your tremendously stylish hazmat outfit.
How did it get that way? It was that a lot of people truly believed the worst of what they were seeing in the media, and not only that - they believed it was probably going to happen to them and to their loved ones. Imagining dangerous things happening to you and your loved ones is probably one of the strongest catalysts for change and wild unnatural behavior that you could ever find on the spectrum of humanity.
As people dove in headfirst, the media felt the exhilarating rush of clicks. They upped the coverage. The clicks went exponential. The media stood in their quarantined offices with their fingers spread out to the sky, eyeballs flickering, purple-blue electricity pouring out of their wrinkled fingertips, voices suddenly strengthening, and erupting with, "No, no! YOU WILL DIE! Unlimited power!" while launching Samuel L. Jackson into the sky. In a few short moments of our life, all news turned into coronanews. In fact, in the first few weeks, I saw an infographic that showed the amount of times a word had been mentioned in the news. Ebola was in the millions over the course of the entire epidemic. According to Sprinklr, a company that tracks language and trends and helps manage social media images and brands, just on one single day - February 28 - 6.7 million people mentioned the rona on Twitter and on social media platforms.
Personally, I am not one who likes to submerge myself into the news machine. I don't want to support the media getting ad revenue for their hysterical hype, leveraging the novelty of a pandemic to benefit themselves financially. As they play on people's vulnerability and panic, they push others into a downhill spiral, scouring the world to shock them daily with more terrors and horrors, digging up the most random one-off experience you wouldn't find unless you were on page 19 of a google search, and then making it front page news.
I don't know if you noticed this, but it seemed that all of the media everywhere only had about six stories to pick from to broadcast on any given day. No matter what news outlet it was, they were all saying the same thing. It was like it was either completely lazy journalism (and I use that term very loosely) or otherwise a very united front to decide what stories were going to make it to your homepage. Those headlines would sit on top, ready to be gobbled up by the eager clicking masses who had barely just opened their eyes for the day, and then re-spread in various degrees across social media, infiltrating every crack and corner of life, giving people the Next New Thing To Freak Out About.
(And then their cortisol levels from stress tanked their immune systems, and they worried more into a perpetual spiral, making themselves more vulnerable to the thing that they were most worried about. SLOW CLAP. Awesome job.)
You can get people to do anything if you work up enough panic. Rational, thinking, level-headed people will turn to bleaching their cereal boxes, turning their masked faces 180 degrees away from other's in terror, afraid to pick up a box of pasta without a gloved hand. These small things are the proof that you can get them to do big things.
This is the place that we stand and wonder at society. Where are you? Is it possible that the media may have their own interest in mind? Do you believe everything that you're told? How much do you question? What if you weren't afraid? Wouldn't you like to feel that way again? (I ask that knowing that there are some people who totally get off on panic, so even though it could be rhetorical, it isn't.)
You know what? You don't have to watch the news. You don't have to read the headlines. You don't have to know every gory detail of what someone is putting out for you. You don't have to wake up and throw yourself into panic and depression. You can just do your thing. You can avoid any scrolling through facebook. You don't have to open it up at all. You don't have to argue with those who disagree with you. You don't have to read the news before you go to the grocery store. You can just go. You can go outside. You can call your friends. You can smile at people at the grocery store and interact like they are a human being instead of the Black Plague personified. You can refuse to drown in it.
Do you know what happens when you do? You feel a lot better. You're not fueling people who don't have your best interest in mind. You're not giving them power over your day and your emotions, creeping into your subconscious, prying one thing after another away from your once much happier life. When something wild happens, you will be clearheaded enough to react appropriately to it, and not with a knee-jerk survival mode.
I just thought that you should know that you're not obligated. Maybe you could try it for a day and see how you feel. Or don't. Whatever. It's a free country. Kinda.
Peace, love, and take back your brain,
Ms. Daisy
What a year so far, amirite?
It's been enough of a wild ride on the free-flowing, wavy scrolls of hoarded toilet paper, diving deep into the deepest depths of oceans of hand sanitizer for any of us to likely want to climb aboard the crazy train again any time soon.
I am sure that many of us have had significant time to ponder and reflect on many new things (including - but not limited to - what you might trade toilet paper for and if you were going to be adventurous enough to make your own hand sanitizer from your liquor cabinet). There are a few things that I have been rolling over in my head and I thought to share one with you today. Are you ready for a ride into my brain? It's wilder than the life of a Costco toilet paper roll.
I think that if there was one emotion that could be collected and weighed across all of humanity starting somewhere in late winter, fear would come in first place. In many of our lifetimes, we have never had to deal with something that had such a wide span, affecting so many all at once. One day we woke up and schools were closed. And then the next day, they were closed for the year (three months out). The next day, people were afraid of airports. The next day, people were working from home. The next day, we watched Italy singing from balconies, locked in their homes. The next day, we were locked in our homes and high fives and hugs were essentially declared illegal. The next, they took away baseball. The next, people started wearing hazmat suits and disinfecting their groceries.
There is absolutely no reason that you could have ever gotten to a hazmat suit and a pile of $37 N95 masks that you burn inside out in your driveway on the way in and tossing your Rice Krispies into a bathtub of bleach without being completely terrified of something. Three and half months ago, if you would have done that, they would have called 911 and put you into a mental institution. Today, you're asked for your bleach concentration recipe and stared at for your tremendously stylish hazmat outfit.
How did it get that way? It was that a lot of people truly believed the worst of what they were seeing in the media, and not only that - they believed it was probably going to happen to them and to their loved ones. Imagining dangerous things happening to you and your loved ones is probably one of the strongest catalysts for change and wild unnatural behavior that you could ever find on the spectrum of humanity.
Personally, I am not one who likes to submerge myself into the news machine. I don't want to support the media getting ad revenue for their hysterical hype, leveraging the novelty of a pandemic to benefit themselves financially. As they play on people's vulnerability and panic, they push others into a downhill spiral, scouring the world to shock them daily with more terrors and horrors, digging up the most random one-off experience you wouldn't find unless you were on page 19 of a google search, and then making it front page news.
I don't know if you noticed this, but it seemed that all of the media everywhere only had about six stories to pick from to broadcast on any given day. No matter what news outlet it was, they were all saying the same thing. It was like it was either completely lazy journalism (and I use that term very loosely) or otherwise a very united front to decide what stories were going to make it to your homepage. Those headlines would sit on top, ready to be gobbled up by the eager clicking masses who had barely just opened their eyes for the day, and then re-spread in various degrees across social media, infiltrating every crack and corner of life, giving people the Next New Thing To Freak Out About.
(And then their cortisol levels from stress tanked their immune systems, and they worried more into a perpetual spiral, making themselves more vulnerable to the thing that they were most worried about. SLOW CLAP. Awesome job.)
You can get people to do anything if you work up enough panic. Rational, thinking, level-headed people will turn to bleaching their cereal boxes, turning their masked faces 180 degrees away from other's in terror, afraid to pick up a box of pasta without a gloved hand. These small things are the proof that you can get them to do big things.
This is the place that we stand and wonder at society. Where are you? Is it possible that the media may have their own interest in mind? Do you believe everything that you're told? How much do you question? What if you weren't afraid? Wouldn't you like to feel that way again? (I ask that knowing that there are some people who totally get off on panic, so even though it could be rhetorical, it isn't.)
You know what? You don't have to watch the news. You don't have to read the headlines. You don't have to know every gory detail of what someone is putting out for you. You don't have to wake up and throw yourself into panic and depression. You can just do your thing. You can avoid any scrolling through facebook. You don't have to open it up at all. You don't have to argue with those who disagree with you. You don't have to read the news before you go to the grocery store. You can just go. You can go outside. You can call your friends. You can smile at people at the grocery store and interact like they are a human being instead of the Black Plague personified. You can refuse to drown in it.
Do you know what happens when you do? You feel a lot better. You're not fueling people who don't have your best interest in mind. You're not giving them power over your day and your emotions, creeping into your subconscious, prying one thing after another away from your once much happier life. When something wild happens, you will be clearheaded enough to react appropriately to it, and not with a knee-jerk survival mode.
I just thought that you should know that you're not obligated. Maybe you could try it for a day and see how you feel. Or don't. Whatever. It's a free country. Kinda.
Peace, love, and take back your brain,
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
Facebook Breakup (again)
Why do I jump in and out of it? Why do I do this to myself?
Quite frankly, I always hate it, but sometimes I participate in the madness because I need it for business. It's hard to be able to reach ~500 (or however many) people every day otherwise. You can toss something out and get a good response almost all of the time because the people in your tribe want to support you and help you. When I ask for help, they are there to back me up. When I am feeling hilarious and like I need to get on stage, I pop on and say the funny thing I heard that day and then yay, oh yay, I get the laugh face. I love the laugh face.
But what is the cost? I'd say about one gajillion billion pounds of wasted time, energy, life, and motivation. I scroll through that sucker like nobody's business sometimes because for crying out loud, if you miss that your friend had a death in the family, you are going to be an insensitive jerk. And what about the people who are having health problems? You want to be there to support them for that.
To be honest, if you think about it, most of it is not that - most of it is people writing the ten concerts they went to, the meowquiz (or whatever it is), the passionate politicos, and pictures of people's children (playing soccer/football/baseball/etc.), dogs, coffee cups, inspirational quotes, and dinners. (Don't get me wrong, I love pictures of dinners. I will stop and look at that, no joke. I'll be analyzing it...hmm, you think that was cooked in avocado oil? Is that a Teflon pan? For heaven's sakes, these people are using a Teflon pan. Do I say something? Do I compliment the food and then tell them it would have tasted better in a cast iron pan? Am I seriously looking at a picture of someone's dinner for like three minutes right now? Good thing this isn't a waste of time...)
Then there is the fine line between what you can say and what you can't say. Do you want to be all political? Do you want to be obnoxious? Do you want to be hilarious but potentially offend people? So then what can you say? Am I going to have a boring page of saying nothing? I can't bear the thought of that, but I don't really want to offend my friends, either. Can I say what I want but in a way that won't offend them?
Okay, okay, okay, this is getting a little out of hand. What if I just have it to comment on other people's pages? What if I just kind of hide in the background and randomly comment? You know what, I'm not a hide in the background and randomly comment kind of girl. I'm more of a let's-see-if-this-crazy-thing-can-be-worded-so-they-know-I-still-love-them-while-I-say-something-totally-bananas. Yeah, that's still a time waster.
So, I'm out. I am on the facebook fast. I've purged it from my life. It's nice, I have to tell you. I don't have to check it, I don't have to wonder. I don't have to think, "Did anyone think that little girl who can't stand slow walkers was awesome? Did I get like 99 likes or what? Are people congratulating me at finding such a winning video? Are they reposting it because it is literally the best video they have ever seen in their life?" (Which, BY THE WAY, that video was seriously the best ever. Watch it. Are you type A? This was you as a child. In fact, this is you now, you just know how to conceal it better. No joke. This kid is my hero.)
I apologize to all of my dear friends who have to roll their eyes and my ups and downs with social media. I know, I'm sorry. It's tedious and horrible to watch someone go in and out of a relationship like that, but I really can't help it. Sometimes it just must be done, no matter the longing and call it puts out to you.
Yes, at first it's hard. It's like, wait, what do I even do when I go to the bathroom now? Slowly but surely, you can find coping mechanisms to deal with the new changes. They are hard and you don't like them, but since you've committed to the change, you have to just bite your lip and get through it. Thank you, sisu. (There are harder things in life. There are things that make you wonder if you really want to wake up in the morning. Dumping facebook should not be one of them.)
Do I miss it? I miss the connection, yes. I really do. I miss how easy it is to get in there and find someone to reach out to. People are posting funny things and some need the kind of help that you provide. That's the hard part. Not being able to swoop in and be that hand for someone. (Although, if you're reading this, please, just call me. You know I'll help you.)
But on the other hand, just imagine your level of productivity. In fact, I have to tell you something. I got down to ZERO emails in my inbox as a result of this change. I'm ahead in all of my work, and I even attended a PTA meeting, where I gave my opinion on not letting teachers have traditional desks (thumbs down - are you trying to kill them?).
Have you ever thought of it? Have you ever wished you could just give it all up and ditch social media entirely? It really is possible. It's the fastest way to lose 1000 pounds, or at least that's what it feels like.
I dare you to try.
Peace, love, and Luddites,
Ms. Daisy
p.s. Just because I'm gone doesn't mean I don't love you. I do. You know I do. xx
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Facebook: The evil tool of modern society
As most of you (except for my mother) know, I do not have a facebook account. (She has a tendency to ask me every other week, "Did you see xyz on facebook?" No, Mom, still no. I still don't have facebook. I am still available to you via text, email, phone, and in person, but not on facebook. And no, I cannot get on there magically and see what so-and-so said...that would entail me having a facebook account...which. I. don't. have.)
I will be three years clean this summer.
I am an advocate for unplugging from it, at least even for a while to live your life fully on earth and out of cyberlandia. When I broke up with facebook, I got crazy productive. (It may have been because I was addicted to it and it sucked my time away like the vacuum I should have been using.) I was baking bread, making homemade 24 hour bone broth, the kombucha was FLYING off of the shelves, the house was perfecto clean, and I even had a few conversations with my offspring.
I did miss it (for about three weeks). I know a lot less of the scoop on peeps now, which I suppose could be a bonus or a negative, depending on who it is (and actually, I did like reading what you had for breakfast...except I am so gonna comment on the nutritional value). It is also sad to not to be able to randomly stalk people (like the friend of a friend that your friend was telling you about, or to check to see if your high school boyfriend is fat, bald, both, or neither - and if you haven't done that and you have facebook, you are totally lying or you had no high school boyfriends.). I also felt a bit sad that people I would never talk to otherwise probably thought I deleted them from my friends list or something, creating a strange awkward question mark. I also missed competing with how far and fast people ran when they would post such ditties (how am I supposed to win when I don't know we're racing?!).
I have had people (even lately) tell me they wish I were on facebook again (not my mother, who already thinks I'm still on there). When they say that, I ponder getting back on for a few minutes. I think about making a page for my future author self or my future health coaching business. I see benefit in that, except that it still feels like playing with crazy facebook fire cyberlandia and I am not super into facebook claiming my cyberself as their property or weird people spying on me. Call me crae crae, right? I also have flashbacks of getting my blood boiling whilst reading the most idiotic things evER, so I don't know if I would look fondly on that aspect very much. And what if I can't make enough bread and broth? I have quotas, people!
What do you think? If you have facebook now, would you ever give it up? Have you done it for a time? Would you try to convince me to join you in your evil cyberparty? If you don't have facebook, why do you stay away?
Peace, love, and don't even try to suggest I do it in moderation - are you kidding me? Have you met me?
Ms. Daisy
I will be three years clean this summer.
I am an advocate for unplugging from it, at least even for a while to live your life fully on earth and out of cyberlandia. When I broke up with facebook, I got crazy productive. (It may have been because I was addicted to it and it sucked my time away like the vacuum I should have been using.) I was baking bread, making homemade 24 hour bone broth, the kombucha was FLYING off of the shelves, the house was perfecto clean, and I even had a few conversations with my offspring.
 |
| a picture of productivity |
I did miss it (for about three weeks). I know a lot less of the scoop on peeps now, which I suppose could be a bonus or a negative, depending on who it is (and actually, I did like reading what you had for breakfast...except I am so gonna comment on the nutritional value). It is also sad to not to be able to randomly stalk people (like the friend of a friend that your friend was telling you about, or to check to see if your high school boyfriend is fat, bald, both, or neither - and if you haven't done that and you have facebook, you are totally lying or you had no high school boyfriends.). I also felt a bit sad that people I would never talk to otherwise probably thought I deleted them from my friends list or something, creating a strange awkward question mark. I also missed competing with how far and fast people ran when they would post such ditties (how am I supposed to win when I don't know we're racing?!).
I have had people (even lately) tell me they wish I were on facebook again (not my mother, who already thinks I'm still on there). When they say that, I ponder getting back on for a few minutes. I think about making a page for my future author self or my future health coaching business. I see benefit in that, except that it still feels like playing with crazy facebook fire cyberlandia and I am not super into facebook claiming my cyberself as their property or weird people spying on me. Call me crae crae, right? I also have flashbacks of getting my blood boiling whilst reading the most idiotic things evER, so I don't know if I would look fondly on that aspect very much. And what if I can't make enough bread and broth? I have quotas, people!
What do you think? If you have facebook now, would you ever give it up? Have you done it for a time? Would you try to convince me to join you in your evil cyberparty? If you don't have facebook, why do you stay away?
Peace, love, and don't even try to suggest I do it in moderation - are you kidding me? Have you met me?
Ms. Daisy
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Oh my gosh, I got a Twitter account.
Horrifying, right?
I totally agree.
Okay, let me explain. As you likely know, I left facebook quite a while ago and it was nearly the most liberating things I have done in my entire life. So why am I picking up another stupid social media vice?
Honestly? To argue with idiots, I think.
I know. That's the same thing as facebook. (But facebook has more pictures of people's breakfasts.)
Well, whatever. Maybe in like two hours I'll decide it was too stupid to pursue. Maybe the orange hair chemicals have seeped into my brain and have made my previously clean brain tainted beyond recognition. Either way, it is what it is.
If you're on there and want to peek, you'll find me @daisyglitters. If you don't have a Twitter account, I suppose I ought to say by all means, and for heaven's sake, don't start now.
Peace, love and submit this as evidence not to dye your hair,
Ms. Daisy
I totally agree.
Okay, let me explain. As you likely know, I left facebook quite a while ago and it was nearly the most liberating things I have done in my entire life. So why am I picking up another stupid social media vice?
Honestly? To argue with idiots, I think.
I know. That's the same thing as facebook. (But facebook has more pictures of people's breakfasts.)
Well, whatever. Maybe in like two hours I'll decide it was too stupid to pursue. Maybe the orange hair chemicals have seeped into my brain and have made my previously clean brain tainted beyond recognition. Either way, it is what it is.
If you're on there and want to peek, you'll find me @daisyglitters. If you don't have a Twitter account, I suppose I ought to say by all means, and for heaven's sake, don't start now.
Peace, love and submit this as evidence not to dye your hair,
Ms. Daisy
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Selfish-ies? Narcissistic-ies?
Ya'll know I don't have facebook. I haven't had it for quite some time. I have been emancipated from the social media tornado for more than a year and half. Up to that point, I was an avid facebooker, checking the who's and what's daily (or more than once daily). If you have dropped facebook, you can vaguely remember the chasm that the minutes of your life swan-dove suicidally into. You may be thankful to be out safe on the other side.
I am. I realized what a lot of time I spent in a pretend reality, making bold comments and getting my blood boiling from what I took as complete bafoonery and lunacy. Why did I participate in such nonsense?
When facebook got it's fabulous (not) "timeline", I bailed. I really didn't need my life out on chronological order for all the world's weirdos to see. I did miss (for a while) "seeing" people I won't bump into in real life (but now I can just ask my friends if I'm desperate to know what happened to so-and-so from high school), but the time that I got and the break from being addicted was worth sacrificing the downsides.
Recently, my MOTHER (of all people - I say "of all people" because she couldn't upload a photo to a computer to save the lives of all of her grandchildren combined among other "impossible" computer tasks) told me that so-and-so took "selfies" of herself on a near daily basis, to which (OF COURSE) I replied, "What is a 'selfie'?" This was a red letter day for mother. She knew something on the computer and I did not.
For those of you who don't know, apparently a "selfie" is a picture you post of yourself onto your facebook. You purposely take a picture of yourself and do it often. I am not exactly sure how this is so different from all of the pictures people usually put on facebook of themselves, but maybe it is more frequent and a way to make it so you are not totally considered an awkward goofball freak who smiles at themselves in their iphone on an hourly basis.
Or, according to SaRAWRR on Urban Dictionary, a selfie is: "A picture taken of yourself that is planned to be uploaded to Facebook, Myspace or any other sort of social networking website. You can usually see the person's arm holding out the camera in which case you can clearly tell that this person does not have any friends to take pictures of them so they resort to Myspace to find internet friends and post pictures of themselves, taken by themselves. A selfie is usually accompanied by a kissy face or the individual looking in a direction that is not towards the camera."
Wow. So cool. How could you not want to participate in such coolness?
Oh. Here's another definition that you can read for the day. It lists the symptoms (according to wikipedia) of narcissism: "Some people diagnosed with a narcissistic personality disorder are characterized by unwarranted feelings of self-importance. They have a sense of entitlement and demonstrate grandiosity in their beliefs and behavior. They have a strong need for admiration, but lack feelings of empathy...Narcissistic personality disorder is characterized by dramatic, emotional behavior, and an over-inflated sense of self-importance that is in the same category as antisocial and borderline personality disorders."
Yes. That sounds lovely. Also according to wikipedia, narcissism has doubled in the last ten years. Surely apps like the "selfie" don't encourage that whatsoever.
This reminds me of the idea that people go out to do something exciting with half of their purpose being that they will upload photos of themselves doing it to facebook. It seems that this motivation is backward (at the least) and wiggidy wacked narcissistic (on the other end).
You are familiar with the story of Narcissus, right? He fell in love with the face in a water reflection and died because he found he could not have the object of his desire. You can quite imagine the people kissing their monitors now, can't you? (Reminds me a little of that movie that is just coming out where that mustached-man falls in love with the Siri girl in his iphone...)
There is quite a difference between keeping a clean and pleasant appearance and the undying love and worship of your own image. One is attractive, and while the other tries at beauty, it is repulsive and ugly.
Don't be repulsive.
Deep thoughts.
Not.
Peace, love and is it better to pretend you don't know that you're taking a picture of yourself as evidenced by you not looking at the camera even though your arm is clearly in the shot?
Ms. Daisy
I think not. I think it looks like split-personality insane, but that's just my opinion.
I am. I realized what a lot of time I spent in a pretend reality, making bold comments and getting my blood boiling from what I took as complete bafoonery and lunacy. Why did I participate in such nonsense?
When facebook got it's fabulous (not) "timeline", I bailed. I really didn't need my life out on chronological order for all the world's weirdos to see. I did miss (for a while) "seeing" people I won't bump into in real life (but now I can just ask my friends if I'm desperate to know what happened to so-and-so from high school), but the time that I got and the break from being addicted was worth sacrificing the downsides.
Recently, my MOTHER (of all people - I say "of all people" because she couldn't upload a photo to a computer to save the lives of all of her grandchildren combined among other "impossible" computer tasks) told me that so-and-so took "selfies" of herself on a near daily basis, to which (OF COURSE) I replied, "What is a 'selfie'?" This was a red letter day for mother. She knew something on the computer and I did not.
For those of you who don't know, apparently a "selfie" is a picture you post of yourself onto your facebook. You purposely take a picture of yourself and do it often. I am not exactly sure how this is so different from all of the pictures people usually put on facebook of themselves, but maybe it is more frequent and a way to make it so you are not totally considered an awkward goofball freak who smiles at themselves in their iphone on an hourly basis.
Or, according to SaRAWRR on Urban Dictionary, a selfie is: "A picture taken of yourself that is planned to be uploaded to Facebook, Myspace or any other sort of social networking website. You can usually see the person's arm holding out the camera in which case you can clearly tell that this person does not have any friends to take pictures of them so they resort to Myspace to find internet friends and post pictures of themselves, taken by themselves. A selfie is usually accompanied by a kissy face or the individual looking in a direction that is not towards the camera."
Wow. So cool. How could you not want to participate in such coolness?
Oh. Here's another definition that you can read for the day. It lists the symptoms (according to wikipedia) of narcissism: "Some people diagnosed with a narcissistic personality disorder are characterized by unwarranted feelings of self-importance. They have a sense of entitlement and demonstrate grandiosity in their beliefs and behavior. They have a strong need for admiration, but lack feelings of empathy...Narcissistic personality disorder is characterized by dramatic, emotional behavior, and an over-inflated sense of self-importance that is in the same category as antisocial and borderline personality disorders."
Yes. That sounds lovely. Also according to wikipedia, narcissism has doubled in the last ten years. Surely apps like the "selfie" don't encourage that whatsoever.
This reminds me of the idea that people go out to do something exciting with half of their purpose being that they will upload photos of themselves doing it to facebook. It seems that this motivation is backward (at the least) and wiggidy wacked narcissistic (on the other end).
There is quite a difference between keeping a clean and pleasant appearance and the undying love and worship of your own image. One is attractive, and while the other tries at beauty, it is repulsive and ugly.
Don't be repulsive.
Deep thoughts.
Not.
Peace, love and is it better to pretend you don't know that you're taking a picture of yourself as evidenced by you not looking at the camera even though your arm is clearly in the shot?
Ms. Daisy
I think not. I think it looks like split-personality insane, but that's just my opinion.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Quitting Facebook
If you're like every person on earth and half of the people on Mars, it is very likely that you have your own personal facebook account. I had facebook when it was only open to college people as a way to keep in touch with my excessively much younger sister. I really don't know how I got into it, but anyway, I snuck in. I had like 13 friends and they were all my ex-students. It was interesting.
Then after many years, people my own age started joining and I was so delighted. Then a couple years later, my parents were sending me friend invitations. This was strange, especially since my mother can't upload photos to a computer and calls the internet "the blue E thingy".
I was very glad to catch up with friends I haven't seen since high school and college. I was thankful to be able to peek in on the lives of people who I've known over the course of my life, see their children, and watch how they turned out and what they're into now.
It was a great tool for my current students to ask questions and a fabulous way for me to get the fantastic single females of my life to meet the fantastic single men (of which I know like 4 and 3 are my brothers-in-law).
But then I found myself choosing to use facebook and preferring its convienence over untimely actual human interaction. I thought that was kind of lame of me, if I actually thought about it. Not to mention all the things I wasn't getting done because I was busy reading status updates and spying on people. When I put it that way, it sounded even lamer. And highly unproductive. Oh I hate unproductive.
So I took a sabbatical. I made bread and cleaned my house instead. I read books. I studied Finnish and Latin. And dude, it was a lot better.
But I missed the people I only get to see on facebook. So I went back. Some people I only really talk to on facebook, not because I don't love them, but just because time and distance and situations make it so we just don't talk anymore because we don't share a life together in the everyday mix.
I thought about this a lot. People are important. Relationships make up the good colorful fabric of life. So would I be missing out on their important news? That isn't cool. After a long time of thinking about it and wanting to be real, productive and responsible, I decided I really ought to jump ship and quit.
But I couldn't do it since I was totally addicted.
So I thought about that too. I'm seriously addicted to something? That is sick. And wrong. And mental. And unhealthy. Something is controlling me instead of me being in control of it. It's like a hoarder in their filth, they just gotta have it around, even though they know it's healthier without it. I'm a sicko, just like a hoarder! AAAAAHHHH!!!
Well, I hung on anyway, trying to find some good reasons to have it but to just keep it to a minimum.
And then it happened.
My motivation came, full force and shoved me over the edge. It arrived in the form of "timeline".
Timeline took hours of my life to load. I do not have cable speed internet. My internet is half of a step up from dial-up. Timeline was the nail in the coffin.
I no longer needed to wonder whether or not I should dump it. It was clear and fabulous and I was free, FREE, FREEEEE!
The hour I was forced into timeline was the hour I quit facebook for good. That was the summer and I haven't looked back since. I only have very short twinges of regret when I miss people. But overall it's much better. Can you remember life before facebook? It's kind of nice. You might like it.
And if you're one of those people, I miss you! But you should totally quit, too. We can communicate the old-fashioned way - texting. Just like back in the day, eh?
Peace, love and footloose and facebook-free!
Ms. Daisy
p.s. Pardon my lack of capitalization of facebook. I debate whether or not I should capitalize it. I know it's a proper noun, so tradition tells me I ought to. But then the logo is lowercase, so are you staying more true to it by keeping it without a cap? It's a quandry that I don't know yet where I ought to stand. Please don't think me an ignorant moose, thinking I know nothing about proper nouns and capitalization, it was a purposeful elimination because I erred on the side of keeping it true to its logo. Ah, eck.
Then after many years, people my own age started joining and I was so delighted. Then a couple years later, my parents were sending me friend invitations. This was strange, especially since my mother can't upload photos to a computer and calls the internet "the blue E thingy".
I was very glad to catch up with friends I haven't seen since high school and college. I was thankful to be able to peek in on the lives of people who I've known over the course of my life, see their children, and watch how they turned out and what they're into now.
It was a great tool for my current students to ask questions and a fabulous way for me to get the fantastic single females of my life to meet the fantastic single men (of which I know like 4 and 3 are my brothers-in-law).
But then I found myself choosing to use facebook and preferring its convienence over untimely actual human interaction. I thought that was kind of lame of me, if I actually thought about it. Not to mention all the things I wasn't getting done because I was busy reading status updates and spying on people. When I put it that way, it sounded even lamer. And highly unproductive. Oh I hate unproductive.
So I took a sabbatical. I made bread and cleaned my house instead. I read books. I studied Finnish and Latin. And dude, it was a lot better.
But I missed the people I only get to see on facebook. So I went back. Some people I only really talk to on facebook, not because I don't love them, but just because time and distance and situations make it so we just don't talk anymore because we don't share a life together in the everyday mix.
I thought about this a lot. People are important. Relationships make up the good colorful fabric of life. So would I be missing out on their important news? That isn't cool. After a long time of thinking about it and wanting to be real, productive and responsible, I decided I really ought to jump ship and quit.
But I couldn't do it since I was totally addicted.
So I thought about that too. I'm seriously addicted to something? That is sick. And wrong. And mental. And unhealthy. Something is controlling me instead of me being in control of it. It's like a hoarder in their filth, they just gotta have it around, even though they know it's healthier without it. I'm a sicko, just like a hoarder! AAAAAHHHH!!!
Well, I hung on anyway, trying to find some good reasons to have it but to just keep it to a minimum.
And then it happened.
My motivation came, full force and shoved me over the edge. It arrived in the form of "timeline".
Timeline took hours of my life to load. I do not have cable speed internet. My internet is half of a step up from dial-up. Timeline was the nail in the coffin.
I no longer needed to wonder whether or not I should dump it. It was clear and fabulous and I was free, FREE, FREEEEE!
The hour I was forced into timeline was the hour I quit facebook for good. That was the summer and I haven't looked back since. I only have very short twinges of regret when I miss people. But overall it's much better. Can you remember life before facebook? It's kind of nice. You might like it.
And if you're one of those people, I miss you! But you should totally quit, too. We can communicate the old-fashioned way - texting. Just like back in the day, eh?
Peace, love and footloose and facebook-free!
Ms. Daisy
p.s. Pardon my lack of capitalization of facebook. I debate whether or not I should capitalize it. I know it's a proper noun, so tradition tells me I ought to. But then the logo is lowercase, so are you staying more true to it by keeping it without a cap? It's a quandry that I don't know yet where I ought to stand. Please don't think me an ignorant moose, thinking I know nothing about proper nouns and capitalization, it was a purposeful elimination because I erred on the side of keeping it true to its logo. Ah, eck.
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