Aug 31 | Farewell to Social Media

As of September 1st I will be stepping back from the personal use of social media, specifically Facebook and Twitter.

I choose this for a number of reasons.

Primarily, I choose to limit my tacit support of Facebook and Twitter as much as possible due to the way they conduct their businesses and to which voices they choose to offer a platform versus which voices they choose to exclude or punish.

I also have discovered that for me personally Facebook no longer offers what it once did. It has become a place where my tendency to constantly feel compelled to compare myself and my life to others is compulsively and painfully fed.

Likewise, while Twitter remains for me a beautiful haven of voices so different from my own, it has also become a swirling vortex that pulls me into a never-ending spiral of fear and rage. I find myself feeling more and more compartmentalized and triggered to anger by it every day.

I disengage not to ignore or push away the problems of the world we’re living in. I disengage because I have been able to see clearly over the last two years that I am becoming addicted to the rush of emotions that accompany so many of the things I see shared, and it is not making me a more conscientious person but a more frustrated, bitter, and exhausted person. It is becoming harder for me to be gentle, and while I do believe in the importance of fire and strength in the world we’re living in, it is nothing without gentleness to balance it.

Let me be clear on two points.

First of all, I am not going to get on the social-media bashing bandwagon. My time on Twitter specifically exposed me to a plethora of folks who would not have the good lives they do without social media, particularly those with social anxiety and various disabilities. In no way do I intend to impugn the idea of social media. It just became clear to me that the joy I got from it was less than the issues I had with the companies I used the most.

Secondly, I in no way intend to impugn anyone else’s continued use of these companies, nor am I blaming anyone or their content for my problems with them or social media in general. This is a personal choice that is being made for my own health.

Now I must confess that the nature of my work means I cannot fully disengage. I will, however, be confining my use of social media as much as possible to the workplace.

I will still produce my Advent and Lenten albums and other content, and will announce both on my Facebook page, but will no longer share the posts there. Instead I’ll include a link to this blog and post them here, and will become more active here. If you want to know what I’m up to, hit me up on this site!

Thanks for reading. I love you all.