I've got a new rule. I can read Twunter and Farcebook anytime I want, but not on my phone or desktop. The iMac is for work and my phone is for anything other than Twunter and Farcebook. (I do use my phone for work, mostly for el Goog and running an app called Forest which plants a little digital tree for every pomodoro session I finish. It can also plant real trees out in the world of real things if you get enough points, which I think I almost have).
Anyways, the idea is to introduce just enough friction to stop myself from spiralling down a social media hole. I have the Twitter app on my iPad, and my iPad stays upstairs. I don't put Zuck's Eye of Sauron on my pad, because eew! But either way, if I get the urge to doom scroll the pad is right there. Upstairs. Yep. All the way up those stairs.
That's usually enough faffing around to make me realise I really don't want to do that. I've introduced more friction to the desktop and phone by simply signing out of the websites on those devices. It's scary how mindless most of our social media behaviour has become. It's like an autonomic response. Feel the slightest bit of discomfort, boredom, ennui, whatever... and BOOM. There you are, neck deep in some bullshit thread.
The other thing I did a little while back was mute a few people. I didn't want to block or unfollow them because they're friends. Like, real friends. But they post and they post and they post about politics and frankly, I can do without that shit in my life. I'm hoping that after a little time out they might have calmed down.
Zuck is out of my life - 100%. Withdrawal was easier than I thought. Got me back here. Trying to move my social contact closer to the sources. I’m testing MeWe since they don’t share/sell info. Moved to DuckDuckGo for searches, surfing, etc., as they don’t track. For most sensitive communication, I moved to Signal - end to end encryption.
i went back to the blue bird site after a month. But seriously reduced activity - put a month between looking at it and the same ongoing jokes from the same people pushing their brand just lose their shine. You aren't n on it anymore so you get a bit "meh" about it all. I'm sure it will suck me in to some outrage factory at some point though.
Although i do post a crap load of pics on IG - no influencer shots of me sitting in swings in an idyllic country farm but a record of the birds and stuff that catch my eye around the traps. The ads on that though are almost unbearable.
Yeah I'm a tad stuck with The Book of Faces....besides family and friends, I also get comms from the Surf lifesaving club and larger organisation via that means which is a bit essential for me. Never really did Twunter (although I get a tl:dr precis via email each day....and how the heck did Miranda Devine end up on the feed for me?) As for the raving loony end of FB posts, I just ignore them, and in some cases deleted the link.
Couldn't agree more about swirling down the politics/social media rabbit hole. Took a break from writing and reconnected with an old friend yesterday, we spent the evening talking about cars. It was fun, refreshing.
I am not on Facebook much these days for the same reasons. Sick of the miserable threads and BS that goes on and a distinct lack of time. Twitter is maybe once a quarter and IG once a month. The lack of time is due to sorting out my Mum's estate with the siblings which is sad and generally unpleasant, and the welcome distraction of building a full-on container office. I have now moved in, wife and chilluns think I may stay permanently and I am planning extensions of some sort.
Sounds like a few of us have booted FB and like Rhino it was way easier than I thought. I deactivated it just before my birthday so I didn't have to deal with people saying nice things, just never got around to reactivating it.
PS. Can everyone please watch Wayne on Prime, I NEED it to be renewed.
Zuck is out of my life - 100%. Withdrawal was easier than I thought. Got me back here. Trying to move my social contact closer to the sources. I’m testing MeWe since they don’t share/sell info. Moved to DuckDuckGo for searches, surfing, etc., as they don’t track. For most sensitive communication, I moved to Signal - end to end encryption.
i went back to the blue bird site after a month. But seriously reduced activity - put a month between looking at it and the same ongoing jokes from the same people pushing their brand just lose their shine. You aren't n on it anymore so you get a bit "meh" about it all. I'm sure it will suck me in to some outrage factory at some point though.
Although i do post a crap load of pics on IG - no influencer shots of me sitting in swings in an idyllic country farm but a record of the birds and stuff that catch my eye around the traps. The ads on that though are almost unbearable.
Yeah I'm a tad stuck with The Book of Faces....besides family and friends, I also get comms from the Surf lifesaving club and larger organisation via that means which is a bit essential for me. Never really did Twunter (although I get a tl:dr precis via email each day....and how the heck did Miranda Devine end up on the feed for me?) As for the raving loony end of FB posts, I just ignore them, and in some cases deleted the link.
Couldn't agree more about swirling down the politics/social media rabbit hole. Took a break from writing and reconnected with an old friend yesterday, we spent the evening talking about cars. It was fun, refreshing.
I am not on Facebook much these days for the same reasons. Sick of the miserable threads and BS that goes on and a distinct lack of time. Twitter is maybe once a quarter and IG once a month. The lack of time is due to sorting out my Mum's estate with the siblings which is sad and generally unpleasant, and the welcome distraction of building a full-on container office. I have now moved in, wife and chilluns think I may stay permanently and I am planning extensions of some sort.
Sounds like a few of us have booted FB and like Rhino it was way easier than I thought. I deactivated it just before my birthday so I didn't have to deal with people saying nice things, just never got around to reactivating it.
PS. Can everyone please watch Wayne on Prime, I NEED it to be renewed.
Looking forward to hearing how this experiment goes, I admit I haven't missed Facebook as much as I thought I was going to miss it.