Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Social Media and How It Almost Killed Me

Why you ask? Why would I want to leave Facebook and all my friends? Well to be honest, the combination of antidepressants that I am taking is no longer working anymore.  I want to be happy and Facebook, on most days, leaves me anything but happy.  Twitter always disgusted me. But my first step away from any type of "social media" was hockey websites and boards and fans, etc. 

Yep, I was one of "those" fans. I proudly criticized my team on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly basis.  Wasn't that one of my rights as a fan?  I really need to find that fan constitution again. Eventually, I got tired of  being called an idiot, stupid because I didn't grow up around hockey, lived in the South, wasn't a season ticket holder and didn't see every game so I shouldn't talk.  Well guess what?  I don't even care about hockey anymore. and If the Carolina Hurricanes left NC that would be fine by me. And in the end, it was THEIR FANS, not their crappy play on the ice that drove me away.  Carolina Hurricanes Fans.  Ugh! Maybe they don't create havoc at games but they sure know how to make one feel unwanted as a fan. So now, I'm not.  At least I got to go to a few Stanley Cup games (the year they lost it, not the year they won it), the NHL All Star Game, and even Finland which was the best trip/vacation ever!

Twitter: After the 2016 elections, I deactivated my Twitter account first . The vitriol on that social media site after the 2016 election was just too much for me to handle. I rarely used Twitter.  Maybe for a contest or some update from someone who wasn't on Facebook.  It was also an easy way to get updates on my favorite sports teams while they were playing. As a person without cable TV, this was especially helpful when the games were not being played on "regular" TV.  So, I will miss the updates about NC State College Sports and the Washington Redskins. I followed some other teams but those were my top follows.  I downloaded the ESPN app to my phone and I'll get updates from that now.  Whew! If I want to read a story about a game, well, I'll just go online and find one.

Twitter was always hard for me.  Conversations were always going on and if you missed something, well you were just out of the loop. I think the ease at which you could text to a bunch of people at one time was good for those who spent their time texting all day anyway.  I don't text a lot.  I prefer talking; face to face or even on the phone.  It's rare I know.  I'm rare. I actually wish people would go back to writing letters.

Finally Facebook.  Ah Facebook, what a fickle friend you are. I've lost and found friends because of you. Reunited with family members. Found out about the dog rescue world and even signed on.  Unfortunately, in our new world, I no longer know how to be. I don't do politics. I'm not going to get involved in mud slinging or insult hurling or what ever the game is called these days.  But it hurts when I see people I truly like and love, call other people (maybe myself, or family or friends) names. You don't know me Facebook, and you never will.  Stop trying. 

As for my friends, I'm heading back to the old days. I'm going to get a home phone so that I can turn off the smart phone at night. I will always be here, I just won't be there.  

Peace and love to you all. 
Denise