Nastiness Behind the Keyboard

On December 31, 2014 at around 9 p.m. I shut down my Facebook.  I just could not take it anymore.  It seemed to me that so many on Facebook were just nasty!  Often spewing things, I am sure (or at least I would hope), they would never actually say to someone's face however, with the cushion of not having a person to react in person to what they "say" people seem empowered? (and I am not sure that is the word I really want to use) when they are typing on a keyboard.

Needless to say, I do not regret shutting down my Facebook. Though I have been subject to a different kind of nastiness!  Some of the "friends" that I had on that particular social media feel it is well within their right to tell me all the reasons why I should come back and most have to do with making life easier for them.  Some of the "friends" have fallen completely off the face of the earth where I am concerned although I have an Instagram, a Twitter, a Tumblr, a Pinterest, a Snapchat, a Reddit, a Google+, and even an Ello! (Yes, I know - what is Ello? Right?)  Not to mention, I have a smart phone that they can call or text and I am living in the same house I was 17 years ago and my parents are still in the house (with the same phone number) that I grew up in my ENTIRE life.  My point?  If someone wants to find me or connect with me there are so many ways to do so that having or not having a Facebook should be irrelevant.

Some well meaning friends have informed me that I can block certain people, or choose to continue scrolling and refrain from reading the nastiness but still be "connected" to the friends I truly want to be connected with.  Well, all I have to say to that is, I am!  I connect with the friends I want to in person and face to face and no pictures or daily posts will ever be better than that!  Do I get to "see" them everyday?  No, but does reading a persons post on how much they have accomplished in the first hour upon waking this morning, or seeing a picture of the food they are about to eat really connect me to them?  I personally do not think so.

Social media has taken away the raised eyebrow, the smirk, the hardy belly laugh.  LMAO will never replace actually laughing so hard your crying with your friend doubled over not being able to breath because they are laughing with you.  The consolation of a friend's hand physically on your shoulder when something in your life has gone wrong cannot be replaced with a post stating, "Sorry you are going through this, I am thinking of you."

As I mentioned I am on a variety of social media however, I am not married to any of them.  There was something about Facebook that would suck me in for hours and cause me to have actual physical pain from getting angry, hurt, or upset from people's posting.  For me, the solution was to get rid of the irritant.  If I had a stone in my shoe I would not wait until after the five mile hike to remove it, right?  Facebook was that stone.

It has been over eight months since I shut down my Facebook, people have asked if I will return after the new year.  I won't.  Especially with the upcoming Presidential election I feel pretty safe in saying the nastiness has not subsided and that's not a stone I want to put back in my shoe. Not even for a short hike.