How I'm using Facebook

Social media is like looking at the world
from the bottom of a well.

Some time ago I made the decision to step away from social media for a while (specifically, I use Facebook and Twitter). I've posted a few times on each since then, but have largely stayed off the sites.

Social media is like looking at the world from the bottom of a well.

You only get this narrow perspective of what people want you to see, but there's a lot more in the periphery that's contributing to the overall picture.

Sometimes people (at least people I know) do it because they want empathy for what they perceive to be their situations. Others want to share what's happening in their lives, but know they shouldn't (or can't) tell the whole story.

And then there are those who use Facebook or Twitter to create the persona of themselves that they want people to believe is the truth #nofilter. But often, what they post is a shade of who they really are. They want people to relate to them the way they relate to celebrities. So they put a rose-colored lens on their #nofilter pictures, make some vague comment about the utopia of their lives, #blessed.

I got tired of it.

So I've changed how I use Facebook.

I rarely post and I've pulled all my friends (except Bo and a few others) out of my news feed. Instead, my news feed is full of posts from pages I like or want to read from, like The New York Times, TED Talks, Humans of New York, and different news pages. Now I can get my headlines in one place, and they're much better indicators of what's going on in the world than the "trending" sidebar on Facebook.

I don't really miss Facebook. I haven't spent any time looking at my friends' pages. Bo still uses Facebook more regularly, and is kind enough to let me know when there's something I need to know.

I don't see myself going back to using Facebook the way I did before. I may go through phases during which I post a bit more frequently, but I'm happy setting it aside and spending that time on other things.

I much prefer hearing about my friends lives from them, as they are.

No filter.