Decided for the sake of my sanity to take a Facebook Vacation. Unfortunately, I did sign up to help judge a calligraphy contest before that, so I am having to check in from time to time to answer questions from the entrants. I did take the app off my phone so I can only check in via my desktop, to keep me from doomscrolling. I wasn’t even going to post about it but because someone was trying to get ahold of me (someone else ended up PMing me), I decided to make a quick public post to let people know.

It’s been weird. I keep reaching for the phone and then remembering that the app is gone. But OTOH, it freed up a lot of time and I’ve been much more productive. Ever since watching that film, The Social Dilemma on Netflix, I decided that I really needed to take control of my internet usage time. I gave it a lot of thought and realized that while Facebook was a convenient means to connect with family and friends, the way the platform works is not really allowing me to see the content I want to see. Instead, I’m bombarded by ads and political content. I’m seeing posts from people I barely know and missing posts from those closest to me. And I know several of the people I “friended” are not reading my posts, especially when they express shock at my father’s demise which was almost a year ago and about which I have posted several times.

So, yeah, I’m going to see how long I can do this. It’s an insidious addiction.