Raven's View

I gave up Facebook for Lent - from Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday. For Western Christians, one of the observances of the period is to give up something, as a symbol of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ’s journey into the desert for 40 days. For me, an atheist, it was an excuse to do without the time-suck that is Facebook. I'm sure JC didn't even have cell coverage in the desert, never mind Facebook, so I thought it was appropriate. 

So, did I miss it? Am I back? Did anyone notice? 

To the last first - a few friends did send me a note asking if I was okay, as I had left without any fanfare or announcement.  

Did I miss it? I use The Facebook for several reasons: to stay in touch with others, to learn about interesting things going on in the world, to share with others my ideas and gems that I find, to discuss ideas, and to promote my books. 

However, over the years I've managed to accumulate over 500 'friends' on here, so my news feed is a constant stream of their posts, or at least the ones that Facebook thinks I should see. Plus ads, of course. The only way to keep up with this deluge is to check in frequently - hourly at times - to see what's new. And once on the site, it's like sitting in front of cable TV with the remote in hand, clicking on and on and on. Hence the time-suck. I did miss being in the loop for what was going on, as buried deep in that stream are a lot of interesting events and discussions. But it is too much. 

I suppose I could just unfollow everyone, but I think while I'll still wander in occasionally,  I just won't bother to keep up, so will likely miss a lot. If you think something might interest me, be it an event, or something quirky or a good discussion - tag me in it.  And I will continue to pass on what I think is interesting - although it is difficult to choose which to focus on. So many dumb-as people out there it seems.  

So I'm back, sort of.