Anthurian

Why I Am Leaving Facebook

Posted on 31 December 2014

I originally posted this to Facebook on November 29, 2014 but re-posting here as a way to re-start Anthurian.com. I do not know what this site will turn into or how often I post but the bigger experiment is how long I can away from social media, Facebook especially. Here’s to 2015 and new starts…

After nearly a decade of sharing my life on Facebook, on January 1, 2015 I plan to step away. I will not close my account but it is time to make a change and leave the conversation. An early adopter, I came to Facebook using my gatech.edu account and was astounded at the connections I could make; amazed by the friendships rekindled. Far and wide, around the world, we’ve met, re-met, and kept in touch through the powers of the Internet.

All the while turning ourselves into data points. Commodifying human interaction and turning our relationships into single drops of water among the massive sea of Big Data. Spending our time with Likes and Pokes and forgetting that it’s the face-to-face and true companionship that makes friends, ties bonds strongly, and creates shared memories.

Instead, Facebook has turned into a world that splits and sequesters us into ever more polarized demographics. Like our country, we gravitate towards the feedback loop that seems most comfortable. Exchanging memes and eCards like a burning pestilence, political thought, religious views, and family events intermingle in Zuckerberg’s hot zone waiting to bleed out – both good and bad — until we go through de-friending purges and isolate ourselves further and further.

I am Generation X. We grew-up and made our lives with the Internet. We were the Dotcom Boom and its bust. We are the ones who’ve brought preceeding and successive generations together on the Web. But, thousands of years from now, each bit and byte will be worthless without context. Facebook provides no context. Facebook is not life. Despite the countless hours spent updating my timeline and sharing life’s events, it is still a simulacra.

I hope that this sparks me to return to writing on Anthurian.com. I am not a Luddite. I understand the advance of technology but ask all my friends to please stay in touch with me via other means.