I've been struggling for months over whether or not to quit facebook. I've learned a lot from what I've read therein, and made connections with people who understand what I'm going through, it's been an essential tool in a profound transformation.
I try to read posts from thoughtful people who see the world differently than I do, which is hard to do in ordinary society. And I want to stay connected to the world, sensitized to struggles that are beyond my daily experience.
But there's also the dark side of the FB informed life. I can get emotionally overwhelmed to the point of hopelessness and despair. I find myself angry and exasperated, a lot. And in my attempts to edit the sources of exasperation, I am swamped with convincing arguments in support of everything I already believe, which makes me doubt that I'm seeing the whole story. But when I open a site with an alternative perspective I find it incomprehensible that anyone could think THAT!
So there's the good the bad and the ugly of FB. But there's also my humanity, my limitations, my immaturity. Truth is that I don't even try to quit cold-turkey because I sense that I'm addicted and would feel foolish to announce my departure only to be seen posting and commenting a few days later.
What I think that I'm realizing is that the FB "feed" works like a carrot on a stick enticing me forward. It's not so much about where I'm being drawn, but the speed at which it draws me. It's like the Police song, "Too much information runnin' around my brain." But it's more than information, it's chemical excitation and an overactive imagination. I need time to process and pray and feel. I need space to reorient, to find my own horizon, to see what's right in front of me. I call myself a contemplative Christian, I need to be a contemplative facebookian.
Reactively quitting anything is not in keeping with the ethos of The Year of Living Slowly. My intention, like it must be in the rest of my life in a sped up world, is to slow down and wake up, even if that means that I fall behind the FB feed. The carrot will reappear the next time I open it up.
I try to read posts from thoughtful people who see the world differently than I do, which is hard to do in ordinary society. And I want to stay connected to the world, sensitized to struggles that are beyond my daily experience.
But there's also the dark side of the FB informed life. I can get emotionally overwhelmed to the point of hopelessness and despair. I find myself angry and exasperated, a lot. And in my attempts to edit the sources of exasperation, I am swamped with convincing arguments in support of everything I already believe, which makes me doubt that I'm seeing the whole story. But when I open a site with an alternative perspective I find it incomprehensible that anyone could think THAT!
So there's the good the bad and the ugly of FB. But there's also my humanity, my limitations, my immaturity. Truth is that I don't even try to quit cold-turkey because I sense that I'm addicted and would feel foolish to announce my departure only to be seen posting and commenting a few days later.
What I think that I'm realizing is that the FB "feed" works like a carrot on a stick enticing me forward. It's not so much about where I'm being drawn, but the speed at which it draws me. It's like the Police song, "Too much information runnin' around my brain." But it's more than information, it's chemical excitation and an overactive imagination. I need time to process and pray and feel. I need space to reorient, to find my own horizon, to see what's right in front of me. I call myself a contemplative Christian, I need to be a contemplative facebookian.
Reactively quitting anything is not in keeping with the ethos of The Year of Living Slowly. My intention, like it must be in the rest of my life in a sped up world, is to slow down and wake up, even if that means that I fall behind the FB feed. The carrot will reappear the next time I open it up.
