A month without Facebook

I started pulling away from social media right after the election. I was just so mad at society that I didn’t want to engage with it at all. I actually spent about two weeks after the election not even looking at news. I was just too angry and every mention of the incoming administration drove my stress levels into the stratosphere. But after a few weeks I realized that sticking my head in the sand wasn’t a healthy or smart way of dealing, so I went back to the news and social media.

But the period between the election and the inauguration really had Mark Zuckerberg showing his true colors, and seeing him front and center at the inauguration, among his billionaire sleazeball peers was my last straw. I was done with Meta platforms. I was done being his product and contributing to his disgusting fortune. Amazon too, but that’s a rant for a different time. And Twitter goes without saying, but I’ve been more or less off of that for years.

So I posted a post on Facebook and Instagram saying I was done and why, and inviting friends to connect with me either via Bluesky or to text me directly. Many did! And many others were making similar posts at that time! I thought maybe we were all coming to our collective senses and creating a true boycott!

I spent the next few weeks on Bluesky and Reddit. I’ve been using Reddit for years and I love it, but I’m a lurker. It’s not social media to me. And Bluesky is so new. I followed my actual human friends, a few celebrities, NASA, and Alt National Parks. It was fun at first but quickly devolved into being dominated by politics. Which on the one hand was great because news was breaking there that wasn’t hitting with the same force elsewhere; but on the other hand it was quickly becoming not fun. I started to miss Instagram, and my well-curated feed of polar bears and watercolor art and border collies and punk rock.

A few weeks into my boycott my friend texted me with some news about an upcoming event. I went to the event’s website but it was not up to date. They didn’t have a Bluesky account. Begrudgingly I went to Instagram and at the top of my feed was info for an upcoming show I hadn’t heard about elsewhere. I bought tickets immediately! And scrolled through some cute bears and dogs and cool art and felt better about life.

I dropped into Facebook too, because why not, and realized all my friends who’d denounced it at the inauguration were all still there, bitching about politics and posting pics of their dogs. I realized I missed my friends.

But no! I said I was quitting Meta! I wasn’t going to line Zuck’s pockets anymore! So I quit for another week.

But man, did I ever miss the joy of cute animals and interacting with friends.

I went back to Instagram and, again, top of my feed was a show flyer for one of my favorite bands. I bought tickets immediately. And there was a new baby elephant at the zoo! And people were sharing info about Amazon alternatives! And there was cool art and my friends’ dogs and Lady Gaga and all the joy I’d been missing over the last three weeks! Yeah I was back.

I’ve been checking into Instagram around once a day for the last week or so. And Facebook once every few days. My friends are there, sharing pictures of their dogs, and also sharing news and plans for activism. And I thought, maybe if we can’t quit it, at least we can use it against them and take them down from the inside. And maybe that’s a poor justification for me wanting to see pictures of bears and info about upcoming shows, but, fuck, I’m human and right now is really hard and maybe it’s ok to find joy wherever you can.

So I guess it’s safe to say my experiment failed. I need social media in my life. And Reddit and Bluesky each serve their own purpose, but Instagram and Facebook serve theirs as well. I’m not calling it a failure, but a learning experience. And if I see a political call to action in between the cute baby animal pics, then I guess it’s serving its purpose.