Back in the saddle again
It is official...my social experiment is done. I have logged into Facebook.
The things I learned on my week hiatus:
1. Read the news before logging into Facebook. You can already be influenced by bias before you ever read a story if you read a long list of either negative or positive comments about a certain topic. It will then feed into your confirmation bias and will keep you from making your own opinions without preconceived notions.
2. Block all political sites. That's right...all of them. I don't care if I agree with them or not. They have an agenda and are pushing it. I don't follow corporations because all they will do is push their product. Same thing with political sites...they are pushing their products. If I agree with someone I don't have to belong to a group to say I do...I know it and it is good enough for me.
3. Keep social media in its place...put the phone down. I went to events last week and I just enjoyed them at the time, not taking pictures or recording the moments. It felt good to just live in the moment, not sharing them. It can be fun to share things on social media, but it is good to keep your life out of it at times.
4. Disconnecting is good. It allows the mind to be still. Exercise the mind in positive ways without constant social media influence. As the old saying goes, "good fences make good neighbors." Learn where social media ends and you begin.
5. If I'm bored, I need to not reach for my phone. It's better to write or read when bored then to engage online constantly. The conversations will always be there and I don't have to be aware of all of them, that is too much chatter. The last thing I want written on my tombstone is "FB Top Poster". Actually, I want it to say, "Holy Crap did she really do that??"
It was a good experiment to go through. I'm also not downloading any of the games I played before...they are dead to me. There is a good chance I will occasionally disconnect just to find my center again. Social media is awesome...and overwhelming. It has opened up so many discussions we never would have had in normal social settings. Both for the good and the bad. But it lacks discipline too...anything you want to say you can say...and what you say can change the opinion others have of you...both for the good and the bad. It makes me wonder in 10 years from now, what will the social media look like. Right now, it's still the Wild Wild West.
The things I learned on my week hiatus:
1. Read the news before logging into Facebook. You can already be influenced by bias before you ever read a story if you read a long list of either negative or positive comments about a certain topic. It will then feed into your confirmation bias and will keep you from making your own opinions without preconceived notions.
2. Block all political sites. That's right...all of them. I don't care if I agree with them or not. They have an agenda and are pushing it. I don't follow corporations because all they will do is push their product. Same thing with political sites...they are pushing their products. If I agree with someone I don't have to belong to a group to say I do...I know it and it is good enough for me.
3. Keep social media in its place...put the phone down. I went to events last week and I just enjoyed them at the time, not taking pictures or recording the moments. It felt good to just live in the moment, not sharing them. It can be fun to share things on social media, but it is good to keep your life out of it at times.
4. Disconnecting is good. It allows the mind to be still. Exercise the mind in positive ways without constant social media influence. As the old saying goes, "good fences make good neighbors." Learn where social media ends and you begin.
5. If I'm bored, I need to not reach for my phone. It's better to write or read when bored then to engage online constantly. The conversations will always be there and I don't have to be aware of all of them, that is too much chatter. The last thing I want written on my tombstone is "FB Top Poster". Actually, I want it to say, "Holy Crap did she really do that??"
It was a good experiment to go through. I'm also not downloading any of the games I played before...they are dead to me. There is a good chance I will occasionally disconnect just to find my center again. Social media is awesome...and overwhelming. It has opened up so many discussions we never would have had in normal social settings. Both for the good and the bad. But it lacks discipline too...anything you want to say you can say...and what you say can change the opinion others have of you...both for the good and the bad. It makes me wonder in 10 years from now, what will the social media look like. Right now, it's still the Wild Wild West.
Comments
Post a Comment