facebook, and why i’m tapping out.

I’ve been on Facebook for a long time, but today I’ll be pulling the plug on my account over there.

I’ve known for a while that it had become more distraction than useful or fun tool, but today things kind of tipped over for me when one of my real-world writer acquaintances got pissed off over a comment I left on their post. (It was, of course, about politics, and that always spells trouble on Facebook because most people who post about politics don’t look to argue or debate. This election in particular has cranked up everyone’s sensitivity up to eleventy-twelve, and 95% of political posts are just there to have one’s opinion reaffirmed by The Tribe, not to actually talk about the subject.) It was my mistake, of course, but it was the proverbial straw for me. I deleted the reply that prompted the response, and then I was in a bad mood for a while that required a drive along the lake in a zippy car for improvement. When Facebook becomes a distraction to the point where people who know you in real life get pissed off at you over their perception of your politics, and then that pissed-offness bleeds over into your real-world life, it may be high time to get rid of it. It really bothers me that the negative feelings I get from bad interactions on FB can so easily bleed into my regular life and make me cranky.

I’ve had to curate my posts on Facebook for years. Most of my publishing friends are on the left side the fence, and quite a few of my real-life non-publishing friends are libertarians or (GASP!) conservatives. When you have to make sure you have the right audience button selected before you post a picture or an opinion lest you offend half your friends list inadvertently, it stops being fun and starts becoming work–and hazardous work at that, like tap-dancing through a minefield.  The drawbacks have now outweighed the benefits of the platform, at least for me.

(And to be honest–it’s a massive time-waster designed to make you come click for your dopamine pellet a hundred times a day. If I had written fiction in all the times I’ve wasted time scrolling through Facebook over the last five years, Frontlines would now be a 20-book series.)

Anyway–time to let it go. Anyone who wants to get in touch with me can still do so (at marko.kloos@gmail.com), and I’ll still be on Instagram and Twitter because they are quick and don’t require the amount of attention commanded by Zuckerbook. I’ll just use this as an excuse to update the blog far more often, where people have to come and seek out what I have to say instead of my opinion popping up in their stream unbidden. Lesson learned, moving on.