Leaving Facebook

I am leaving facebook. It’s not really about the social network itself, in fact, I think online social networks are a wonderfully valuable tool in so many ways. However, this is a personal statement about how I feel about what is happening in my life right now and how facebook has become an epicenter of resembling all of those qualities which I am trying to overcome.

First of all, the meaning of relationships in my life is very important to me. I value the physical presence of people and I value the effort that it takes to stay in touch with those you choose to connect with. I value the present moment and how it means more than any facebook picture can replicate. I feel that because I have spent so much of the last several years (almost half?) of my life exploring online socialization, I have lost a lot of these values that I hold dear to being human. And it’s gotten worse over the years! It’s not as though facebook takes away from personal relationships that I've already cultivated, but it does take a lot of energy and place it into a medium that is about expressing myself in images and snapshots of time, and blasting it out to several hundred people, many of whom probably wouldn't make the reciprical effort to be a part of my life.

My other intention is to take that energy out of capturing life in snapshots, and place it into capturing life in real time. Deepening the meaning of truly being in an experience rather than how it can be told as a story of ‘who you are’

I suppose you could look at Facebook as a form of art…an art in expressing yourself to the public, an art in engaging followers, an art of collecting connections; however you want to look at it, it’s an expression of a person. And I am all for self-expression and art. That's probably one reason why I Love it and have let it get this deep. I also think you could say facebook is an experience in itself. However, my feeling is that it has become a very shallow experience which I am adapting to, more and more, rather than seeking more fulfilling depth.

The art form I am looking to express is the art of living in the present moment, expressing my true essence through each handshake, each conversation, and each manifestation of the universe that I am personally interacting with. I want these experiences to cultivate as they are in the present, so that I can learn to trust my intuition, tap into knowing that the present will only manifest into what it can possibly become through experience. It’s an effort that is about acting and reacting to what is now, to flow into what is reflected and projected into what is to become. This is in contrast to the intention of planning how I 'wish' to 'portray' myself...or trying to judge what 'appears' to be rather than what is present.

This is not me placing a value judgment on facebook or those who utilize it. Just about everyone I know is on there, and believe me, I truly understand the social utility that I will be missing out on! This is about what facebook has become to me. In fact, given that I do all of my work from a computer, and I work in social media, it has probably become more entrenched for me than for others. It's become so close to home that I feel it has slowly crept into my social DNA and blood. This blood has begun to feel uncomfortable, as though it’s effecting my motivation, my space, and my time in ways that don’t feel healthy , natural, and in essence, feed only my ego. So I’d like to extricate myself from this experience for some time, to see how I might grow without it.

That's all :)