I’m here, not there

So here’s what I’ve learned and may be finally, fully accepting: social media is not good for me. It’s a firehose of outrage and knee-jerk, low information opinions. And I keep STICKING MY FACE IN IT. I keep going back for a few reasons:

1. Attention-seeking. This is an isolating time for all of us, and I was already a semi-hermit before the plague. So I stumble over to twitter to share some joke or music opinion, or I spout a saucy political opinion, in hopes of getting a reaction. The trouble is, I either get no reaction, or I get into a fight that makes me feel worse than before. No thank you!
2. Boredom. I troll through Twitter looking for new news, some sign that life is progressing. The wait for the end of this stupid pandemic has me looking for any indication that we’re moving to the next chapter and not stuck in an endless loop of suck. But what I find on Twitter is a neverending stream of things that upset me. I get drawn into a million pretend disagreements over things that I am not even personally invested in.
3. Connections. I use the Facebook because it connects me to people I don’t see often. But the connections aren’t real. They are more real that the super-fake Twitter connections, but not anywhere near authentic human relationships.

I’m not using instagram, tiktoks or whatever the kids are into this hot second, but I assume they will also turn poisonous.

So I am backing away from all of them. I’m not ragequitting and storming away in a fit. I’ll keep Twitter and Facebook for now, but I’m just going to use them as a place to broadcast this blog. Here in this magical blogworld, I control the horizontal and the vertical. It’s my blog, and I’ll post what I want to. People who read it are here on purpose. They like the cut of my jib, and they choose to read more of what I write (thank you for that, by the way). I’m the boss of the comment section, so I can keep the internet barbarians from spoiling our little party. But the comment room is always available for you wonderful folks.