A number of my friends have noted a marked reduction in my activity on Facebook recently. For about ten days, I have posted nothing there, made one minor comment, and rarely if ever clicked on "like" or added any emoticon to any posts by others. I have, however, continued to read many of the posts and links from my friends on Facebook.
My reasons for the decline in activity are the similar to those of Virginia Postrel:
My reasons for wanting to quit Facebook were pretty standard: It’s a time sink. It exacerbates my depression and, perversely, my sense of isolation.
Yes, Facebook really is a time sink. Reading it, even without writing or posting a thing, takes up far too much of my time, especially if I think I might want to do something else with my life: learning lines for various acting gigs, practicing my French horn and alto horn, playing Pokemon Go, blogging, photography, watching sports and science shows on television, possibly writing more about economics and other things, et cetera, et cetera. Furthermore, my posting, commenting, and replying to comments had become a nearly full-time task. It was becoming a very heavy weight for me that I no longer want to carry around.
Postrel then adds,
None of this was new, so it’s not clear what set me off. Was it the former magazine editor marveling at the huge sums he’s now making on the speaking circuit? One too many posts from people throwing around words like “libtards,” “warmongers,” and “deep state”? ... All of the above in rapid succession? Whatever the trigger, I was suddenly fed up.
The examples she provides are similar to my own. I have friends from every walk of life, and while I think the diversity of my group of friends enriches my life and helps me understand things I would never even begin to understand otherwise, it also gets me down at times. I have ultra left-wing friends, ultra right-wing friends and everything in between. There are economists, business executives, family members, musicians, artists, theatre friends, socialists, libertarians, social conservatives, sports lovers, sports haters, Islamaphobes, Islamophiles, Israel-philes, and anti-Israel friends.
You get the idea. Nearly every one of my friends writes things I like, but many of them also write or post links to things that rile me up. I was getting too worked up and too depressed, and the hurling of one-line retorts was adding to my despair for life, for humans, and for my own happiness or even contentment. At the same time I am too tired, too old, and too lazy to read and respond to everything that is posted, especially anything that is lengthy and requires considerable mental effort. I needed some separation, a break.
Meanwhile, I had begun to sense that most people don't really care very much about what their friends do or write on Facebook, and while I was having fun posting pictures of my various activities (and meals!), and while many of my Facebook friends seemed to enjoy the photographs, I suspected not many people would notice or care when I stopped those types of postings. And certainly my posts and links about economic policy mattered very little (or worse, offended) many or even most of my non-economist friends.
Like Postrel and Schwarzenegger, I'll be back. And like Postrel, I will likely reduce my time and effort on Facebook so that I can and will do other things. But I really need to rethink what I'm doing there.
Finally, let me emphasize that I enjoy reading what my Facebook friends are doing and thinking. I have loved staying in touch and regaining contact with so many people. It's not you. It's Facebook and my attempt to figure out how to have it (and you) in my life.
