![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I didn’t want to be asked to donate to charities twice a day, I wanted to see the cool, creative projects my writer friends were working on. I didn’t want to see politics in my feed, I wanted to see my peoples’ posts, like when my nephew made the local news because of his charity work, or cute videos of my best friend’s baby. That’s when I decided that it was time to buckle down and purge my Facebook friends list in order to find the personalized, meaningful experience I wanted. Never wanting to offend people, I’d always say yes, but over time all those yesses began to translate into a social media experience that had become so disjointed that I no longer recognized what it was about Facebook that I even enjoyed anymore. As a writer, I’m often asked to share posts, to “like” pages, and join groups. It was often emotionally taxing and depressing, and, yet, I knew I’d had a hand in making it that way. I couldn’t just log in and easily see the people I love instead I had to wade through dozens of posts reminding me about climate change, corruption, injustices of all kinds, requests for donations, and the same viral posts circulating on a loop. Over the last decade, my Facebook became a crowded, noisy place, and trying to connect to friends there was often more stressful than fun. Social media has come a long and incredibly efficient way at connecting people, but not all of this “connection” is good for my mental wellness. This was before it was common to get news through one’s Facebook newsfeed or to be “advertised at” through Messenger. In college, I’d spend hours on Facebook - chatting with friends, sharing hilarious videos, and even doing study sessions in group chats. ![]()
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