These days, I find myself growing impatient with Facebook. Or rather, I should say, I am tired of the antics of some folks who post to the venerable social media site.
It’s bad enough that you receive all those ‘targeted’ advertisements. You know the ones: They make you think the Facebook gremlins are inside your head and then you realize, oh, they’ve got some tracking mechanism to know I was just looking at that product.
Apart from using FB to help promote Coach Jeff’s Blog, I enjoy staying in touch with a number of dear friends who are spread out across the country. I can and do enjoy this and will continue to do so. But, as we head toward the Lenten season I am starting to think I might actually participate in the whole ‘giving up’ practice.
I may take a break from FB.
I’m still working out how to post the updates from the blog. Maybe I will log on in the evenings just long enough to post a link and then log off immediately. Whatever the case, I really think I need a break.
If you’re one of those folks who enjoy playing the online games, that’s fine. I’m not into that but if it is one of your passions, go for it. It isn’t those posts that annoy me (the relentness requests to have me join “Farmville” seemed to have passed a few years ago).
I get tired of the ubiquitous political posts and, just think, this isn’t even an election year! Can you imagine what 2016 may bring? To be fair, I see lots of posts from both sides of the political aisle but one group seems more verbal than the other. In any case, I prefer a politics-free approach to social media, so this is one reason I am thinking of checking out for six weeks.
The notion of a politics-free zone hit me over the weekend when one of my ‘friends’ posted some thoughts and one of her friends tried to turn her topic into the latest episode of “Crossfire.” I also noticed I couldn’t see his post in response to her’s. I wondered if the poster is someone I have blocked?
One of my methods to ensure a pleasing social media experience over the years is to issue ‘the block.’ You can think of this as you might strategically place the big ‘x’ to impede the ‘o’ player in a spirited game of tic-tac-toe. Place the x in the right spot and you keep your opponent from proceeding; works the same way here with pesty posts.
If you feel this is kind of harsh, I don’t mean it that way. As I see it, Freedom of Speech works both ways.
I want to exercise my freedom FROM:
- Irritating former co-workers
- Individuals who post material I just don’t want to see
- Others who are far too intrusive online
This fellah who, on Saturday, tried to take a well-meaning post and make a political statement from it is an example of someone I might’ve jettisoned. So, I went to my block list to see if he might be on it. He was not. But many MANY people are.
Let’s just say I was shocked at how many people have gotten the virtual boot. I’d give you a number but then, I’d hate to admit that publicly. On the plus side, I’d say I’ve not added to the list in more than a year. Maybe two. So, perhaps I’ve become more flexible or tolerant. Or maybe my first draft of the list was just right.
Still, when I read the long list, I started feeling some degree of remorse. Maybe I’ve been too hasty, I thought. Surely I could reduce the list. So, I started reviewing right away.
- #001. No way.
- #002. Remember the time she did that thing with email. So…uh…no.
- #003. The guy who posted the stuff about the…Yeah, can’t do that.
It didn’t take me long to feel like the grumpy old man. “Hey you kids. Get off my wall!”
The unblocking exercise took less than 10 minutes and I didn’t reduce my list by a single selection. There was one guy who I really considered hard and then I thought back to his online presence and, well, I just couldn’t do it.
The activity did provide a few moments of introspection, however, and that is always a good thing, right?
More importantly, it confirmed the fact that, indeed, I might need to take a break. Might do me some good. And, the timing is about right.
After all, Ash Wednesday is just a little more than two weeks away.
JG
Originally posted 2/3/2015
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