It's pretty easy to think of reasons why someone might want to stay away from social media. The drama, the noise, the politics, the desire for privacy and safety. But I think the reasons someone might want to remain on social media could be complicated, emotional, and very personal.
Back in March I wrote about taking the Facebook app off of my smartphone. I still haven't re-downloaded it and I check Facebook on my computer about three times a week. I am still happy with my decision to distance myself a little more from Facebook. I have gone through my friends list two or three times this year and removed quite a few people I barely knew or hadn't talked to in years.
But yes, I do still have a Facebook account.
Someone I used to follow on Instagram recently deleted all of his social media accounts. All of them! His name is Josh Taylor. He and his brother Jordan have run the YouTube channel Blimey Cow for several years. Josh had issues with social media for quite a while but recently became even more reluctant to have such a presence on the Internet. So he set up a newsletter sign up for anyone who might want to keep in touch and then deleted all of his social accounts. I definitely agree with his main reasons for leaving social media.
1. I don't trust the people who run these platforms.
2. I don't think it's good for my health.
3. It distracts me from time with my family.
4. It's just all so political now.
And yet, I am still on Facebook. And Instagram. Does Pinterest count as "social media" too?
Why do I remain on social media?
My side of our family does not live in Michigan. That is really the biggest reason. My family and a large number of friends from over the years live so far away that I am able to see them in person very infrequently. So I maintain a presence on Facebook and such so that we can stay in touch, my parents can see photos of our kids, and I can remain informed about big events going on in people's lives.
Being connected to multiple people through one platform makes it a lot easier to stay in touch. Yes, there's e-mail and texting and phone calls, but I'm not the greatest at keeping up with correspondence, and I'm introverted so I like being able to keep to myself when I want to. So the easiness of staying in touch with so many people through social media is very attractive.
The ridiculous number of photos that I have archived on Facebook is another reason why I am not rushing to delete my account. I quite like having a digital archive of memories that I can easily look back on and share with other people. It would take quite a while to rebuild my photo library elsewhere online.
Which brings me around to some thoughts I have been mulling over lately.
What would be a legitimate alternative to having a Facebook account? I am certainly not talking about yet another form of social media, but rather some way to share photos and updates online with perhaps a more limited audience, they can still interact through comments and such, I could maintain my online digital archive of photos, and minimize my presence on Facebook.
The only answer I have come up with so far is building some kind of website of my own, possibly password protected, with galleries and a blog, and some kind of e-mail newsletter would go out when I posted updates. Having built our own photography website I know that putting together such a thing would be a lot of work, especially if I were to recreate my Facebook photo albums. But honestly, that option is becoming more appealing as time goes on. Maybe even this blog would be lumped in with it. The more I think about how much access we have to each other these days, the more I want to sequester myself away and maintain a more private life.
Sometimes I daydream about this blog becoming insanely popular and having a following of some kind. But do I really want that kind of attention and the criticism that is likely to come with it? People can be quite mean, especially on the Internet as they hide behind their keyboards and computer screens. Do I really want to open myself up to receiving such scrutiny from strangers?
But also, does anyone else feel guilty when they "unfriend" someone on social media? It's like, "I'm sorry, it's nothing to do with you, we just haven't spoken in years, and I don't think I really want to share personal details with 400+ people on Facebook anymore, so, I'm unfriending you. Sorry." (I had about 415 "friends" on Facebook earlier this year and now I'm down to about 350.) The guilt I feel is quite similar to what Angela and Shaye talk about in their podcast episode titled "We're Not Robots", when they themselves express frustration with social media and the guilt that follows when nowadays it is so easy to keep in touch with people but there are just too many people to keep tabs on and then you feel bad for not reaching out simply because you are already over-extended mentally and need a break from communicating with others.
I don't think I will ever fully get rid of social media, even Facebook. I can see myself continuing to greatly reduce my presence on Facebook, especially if I were to put together a website of my own, but I don't know when or if that will ever happen. For now I will continue to leave Facebook off of my phone and be mindful of who I am connected to and what exactly I am sharing with them.
What are your feelings towards social media? I don't think it is all bad, but I do think it should be used wisely.
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