I would like to give up Facebook. Twitter and Instagram too. But I can't, for each of them have hooks in me. There are people on each platform that I only interact with on that platform ... and so to ditch it would be to lose contact with them. Because people don't do email anymore, do they, not for keeping casual contact. And letters? When did I last write anyone a proper letter?
And I know, I know, about unfollowing people without unfriending them, to keep my timeline tidy, and I have all my security and privacy settings set as stringently as possible. But even so. Do we have to accept that this is how life is now? Because it's not even symbiosis, is it? Mark Zuckerberg and his merry shareholders get more out of knowing all about me, my life, my friends, my family, my interests, than I get out of seeing photographs posted by a woman I worked with twenty years ago, don't they? Otherwise, Facebook wouldn't be free. Information is power, and we're giving social media platforms all of our power, freely, in exchange for a handful of beans. It makes me deeply unhappy, and yet I am still entrenched. What, I wonder, am I craving so much that it ties me to these social parasites?
Life was easier when there were just letters and phone calls, wasn't it? I'm in the phone booth, it's the one across the hall...
Whatever you are doing Martin you're obviously a lot better at coping than me! I don't do any social media (unless you count this) and I still can't keep up, I'm just not made for the modern world!
ReplyDeleteBut I do mourn the loss of longer/slower ways of communicating too. An old friend from my college days got back in touch recently and even suggested we could start exchanging actual hand-written letters to each other again - what a lovely idea. Yet something has changed in me and I struggle to write anything at the moment, I can't imagine even having the energy and impetus to do such a thing. Perhaps we managed it so easily before because very little else was constantly vying for our attention - only it seems it's quantity over quality now. Except for places like this of course :-)
Such a good point you make about it not even being symbiosis too. Can we ever take it back to where we want it?
Great choice of song btw.
Even here, quantity is starting to take priority over quality. I look at blogs I admire and feel a (sub)conscious pressure to post more often, so rather than write one or two posts a month that I feel proud of, I trot out two or three a week, few of which move me.
DeleteAnd it's definitely not symbiosis - I doubt a social media platform exists that doesn't prioritise its own objectives over those of its users.
Maybe the way forward is postcards. Life is busy. Part of the reason I don't write people long letters any more (apart from the sad fact that most of them wouldn't have the time or inclination to write a long reply) is that sitting down with a pen and paper and writing a few thousand words takes time. But a postcard, that ought to be manageable, right? Kind of like writing a tweet instead of a blog post ;)
Thought you'd like the song.
I hear you. Would love to break free, but don’t want to lose touch with people which I know would happen if I did. When I first made the move north to where I live now I wrote so many letters to friends and I got so many back in return - Still have them. My mantra back then was Phone, Write, Visit someone every day and it worked well as I built up a set of new real life friends and kept in touch with old ones. I do none of those things now yet have far less time as I disappear down rabbit holes and before you know it an hour has passed and I’ve only “liked” a few posts by people I once worked with for a few months. Must do better.
ReplyDeleteWhat's that saying, "Make new friends but cherish the old, for one is silver, the other gold."
DeleteIf I spent as much time writing as I do "liking" (and clicking, and scrolling, and...) I think I'd be in a much better, happier place.