Friday, March 1, 2019

A Small Lenten Sacrifice


It didn’t quite work as a New Year’s resolution, but I have another shot. I’m giving up Facebook for Lent. Not that I’m especially religious, but it seems like a good opportunity.

Just so you understand, it will be far from a hard FBexit. No plugs are being pulled, no account suspended, and I won’t be silent in groups I belong to. I will see all notifications and respond to PMs – I never turn down a chat or a heads-up. I will also continue to post these weekly blogs and podcasts. But general posting, commenting and news feed browsing will be kept to a minimum, and I won’t be checking the phone all day in idle moments (of which there are far too many). The goal is to restore an FB/life balance. It’s a personal experiment.

I had considered an account cancellation earlier because of all the stories about what Mr. Z. was doing with our data. But I’m a bit of a performer and need a certain amount of attention, so I’m staying.

On Facebook, I have relatively few friends, but the quality is very high. Some are sweet. Some are angry. Others are a little profane. Still others go overboard on memes And there are some really brilliant writers and artists.  But nobody is trivial!

I have found myself living in others’ lives a little too much, envying those who seem to have made better choices than I, and being frustrated that I can’t do more for  people in worse circumstances than mine (but believe me, if I come into great wealth, I know exactly which friends to help financially, at least as much as the IRS permits).

So we’ll see what happens here. BTW, I did think about just taking a break with no announcement, because who really cares anyway? That said, now that it’s out, I have a commitment to live up to to. I will be proud of myself if I make it to April Fool’s Day, and I’ll certainly look like one if I don’t, right?

But hey, if Lent is too heavy a concept, let’s just call it Spring Break.


No comments: