(CROSS-POST FROM FACEBOOK)
Hi FBers…
You may (or may not!) have noticed that I don’t post any more. I’ve been trying out life without FB for months now, and I feel that I prefer it (if you are interested, I explain my reasons in the PS) so I’ve decided to make it permanent.
The obvious drawback to this is that I have a lot of friends and connections here, so I’m posting just to let you know I’m leaving (and where to find me if you want to).
If you’re interested in the things I used to post about you can follow my internet activities at www.tensaimon.com. That’s been on a pause recently as well, as I mull how to move forward (in a world on fire….) but from here on in: if I do anything on the internet that’ll be where I put it. (I *might* post my blog to FB occasionally)
If you’re not so interested in the content I create (it is in Japanese….) but would like to remain friends with me, can I suggest you send me a message (via FB messenger is fine, I’m not going to delete my FB account…not yet anyway) and we’ll figure out a meaningful way to try to stay in touch.
And if you’re not so interested in specifically staying in touch, but just enjoyed my company here on FB: I’ve enjoyed it too, it’s been a fun party….but I’m feeling a little tired now so I’m going to go home.
Emotionally and socially, at these kind of points in life it’s normal to say things like: “I hope me meet again sometime, I’d love to chat some more….” etc etc
But I’m not normal, so at these points I like to speak more realistically (partly, I confess, for (dark) comedic effect):
Good luck with your future endeavors, I hope life works out well for you, and …..
Goodbye forever.
(Err…I’ll probably come back in a week or so to check replies to this, so feel free to reply below if you’d like to say anything in parting)
PS
if you’re interested in my reasons for (mostly) quitting (most) social media, here they are, as briefly as possible:
1)
I feel the time I used to spend scrolling is now being used more productively: reading stuff I choose to read, instead of what FB feeds me.
2)
FB feeds me things because its designers designed it specifically to addict us (by exploiting our social instincts, and a few other cognitive/emotional vulnerabilities, some innate, some acquired). I’m not sure voluntarily offering myself up for that addiction is really how I want to spend my free time.
3)
FB addicts us in order to make (vast amounts of) money by showing us advertising, which (yet again) exploits our vulnerabilities in order to get us to buy into a consumer economy that tells us that the path to happiness is to buy things. You may feel that you don’t get sucked into this, and good for you, but I see the effect it has on my students and I don’t want any part of it.
4)
One of those vulnerabilities is outrage: FB shows us stuff that outrages us because that makes us spend more time on it, venting our outrage (and helping to outrage other FB users….) all the while seeing more advertisements and thus making FB more money.
The obvious problem here is that all this outrage is destabilising society with profound (violent) real-world consequences.
The world is undoubtedly deeply fucked-up, but I no longer feel getting outraged about it (esp not on social media) is a healthy or helpful way forward. I suspect that healthy anger is calm and flowing (not tense and shouting), and I further suspect that this calm and flowing healthy anger is far more effective in addressing the world’s problems than shouting is.
You can read this as a mea culpa: I’ve done plenty of shouting on social media…..I now feel that was a mistaken path, and I’m looking for a new way forward.
5)
Those things that the advertisers tell us can bring us happiness are made using the earth’s resources, and making (and disposing of) them is polluting the biosphere we depend on. This is happening at an ever-increasing rate because the economic system of capitalism demands constant growth to provide constantly growing profits.
In a body we call constant exponential growth “cancer” but somehow on a global scale this is supposed to be a good thing….cancer usually doesn’t end well for the body, and it doesn’t look like the 21st century is going to be any picnic either…..
6)
The economic system of capitalism (like all societal activity) is ultimately made up of humans and their actions: in this case, it is being driven by people who are already absurdly wealthy and powerful and yet still want more (my interpretation: to feed the hungry ghosts in their souls – See Gabor Mate’s “in the realm of hungry ghosts”).
This is addiction, and if there’s one thing I have learned about addiction, it is: addicts would rather die than quit their addiction (RIP H****, he would have turned 50 this week….). So the wealthy money-and-power-addicts are not going to stop, which bodes ill for the coming decades….
7)
It’s hard to feel that my individual actions really mean much at all, but even if my effectiveness in changing the world is flat zero, ethically I feel I’d rather participate in good as much as possible, and evil as little as possible. My personal conclusion is that FB is on the evil side, so I’m out.
Bye.