Farewell to Facebook

I know many friends who have taken time off from Facebook--sometimes as a part of their Lenten discipliine.  I have however been grateful for Facebook as a way of connecting with family and friends far from Princeton.  

This week, however, I had an interchange that upset me enough that I took FB off my iphone apps and deleted my Chromebook bookmark.  I should have resisted but I commented that I was sad that a former student (someone I tutored as a volunteer) shared a post from RawDealMedia that was certainly not true.   

She responded that "us conspiracy theorists" will be proved right! I thought that was an interesting admission to include herself in such a group! A relative of hers defended her using a vulgarity in her post.  I commented that would be the end of my comments but did state boldly what I believed about the election and a good man as President.  

When I opened FB later, I noticed that there were more responses to me. I did not want to see any more.  It seemed like the only way to avoid them was to avoid Facebook.

But that makes me sad.  Yesterday Jim wondered what our friend JR thought of the Cubs trades and I could not FB message him to find out.  I liked using a Spelling Bee group to get hints but that is closed to me now.  And I will miss seeing photos of my friends and relatives far and near.  I never post or share political statements although there are plenty out there that I can affirm.  

But a day off Facebook made me realize how often I checked it--almost as a reflex when I opened my phone.  Check email.  Check Facebook.  I feel a bit lost but that is probably a good thing.  

It's not a permanent farewell.  When I get over the sadness and assume that there will be no more nasty comments directed to me I can consider connecting again.   I can still check Instagram.  I don't do Twitter--I never got hooked on that.   I have learned a lesson however in that it only hurts me to try to set the record straight on misinformation and outright lies.  Unless just maybe my comment made a little difference in the way someone was thinking.  That is probably an unrealistic hope!