I've been considering about Facebook for quite a while. The signal to noise ratio is now horrific. I scroll through pages and pages of reshared images, 75% of which I consider junk, even after blocking the source pages as much as possible. Some things are funny, yes. But the sad truth is that Facebook has become everybody's soapbox, a podium for people to yell out to the world in the hope someone is listening. It's not about two way communication so much anymore, as shouting something out and hoping someone is listening, and perhaps getting feedback on what you shout. It's a rose tinted world of what people want to project, and a way for people to try and feed their fragile egos and make themselves feel better. I do miss LiveJournal somewhat for that - yes, there's always a little tinting, but it always seemed a lot more... honest, for want of a better word.
The irony of this post is not lost on me, my final standing on my own little podium. Announcing loudly to the Facebook world that I'm off. But I figured it was worth sharing, and may be of use to other people - it's not a selfish share, as most of my blog posts on here aren't.
The other problem, of course, is the massive amount of information overload that occurs in my day to day life. From being bombarded with emails, Hangouts, WhatAapp messages, Facebook messages - and they're the group messages or the one-to-ones. Then you get the broadcasts - Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, Pinterest. And, worse, Facebook is now shoving buy and sell messages in my face on the mobile app - not cool, FB, and as per usual you're making it near-impossible (or, indeed, impossible) to disable the functionality. I'd go back to FB lite, but it's a disappointing experience and quite a few things just plain don't work. But yet I sit on the page and scroll... and scroll... and scroll. Scroll for half an hour looking at things. Net gain from doing this? Zilch. It's like watching brainless TV but requires more brainpower.
The downside to leaving Facebook? You lose touch with a lot of people that you don't talk to or see much. And yeah, that kinda sucks. Those at the other side of the country, those in different countries, those you haven't seen in years. But the truth is, I think, that these relationships are somewhat on life support anyway. It may sound harsh to put it that way, but it's true. Yes, I'm interested in what's going on in the more distant people in my circles, but the cost of doing so is just too high, really.
My new year's resolution is a simple one. "Live". Embrace life, and not spend hours scrolling through a timeline full of adverts, inspirational quotes, people selling stuff, people whinging about things and not doing anything about them or even trying (not including those that can't do anything about it... though I'm not sure what complaining about it achieves.) Go see people, have a brew. Go on adventures, and *talk* about it. Don't shout it from a podium, interact. Smile, laugh, hug, grin. Walk, take pictures, share them with people, not a list of messages on your personal pin board waiting for someone to reply.
(Ingress is a bit of a special case. I'm not giving that up, and know it uses a hell of a lot of online chatting - but that's actually interactive, at least, instead of shouting from the top of a box. G+ I primarily use for Ingress, and only check it once in a blue moon. But Ingress is both a game and a lifestyle choice, which has helped me meet so many awesome people, visit places I'd have never been, and massively enhanced my life.)
There's a real world out there. Going to remember what it's about. And one day, maybe I'll solve the signal-to-noise issue too. Maybe social media will be useful again then. I did consider just hiding my timeline full stop, but I'm not sure what the point of that would be, aside from to stop me scrolling.
If anyone's got any better answers, happy to take them on a postcard!
