This is your brain on social media.....

Remember those TV ads from the 80s with the egg in the frying pan, warning you 'this is your brain on drugs'?  I think we should re-run those and replace "drugs" with "social media."  I don't know about you, but it's fried me.


There's just too damn much pressure:

to belong to a social network

to friend people

not to unfriend them when you really really want to

to share things about yourself, about your life, about your loved ones,

about your neighbors, about your co-workers

to share pictures of all the events in your life

to comment on others' sharing things about their life, their loved ones,

their neighbors, their co-workers

to make social commentary on the world we live in

to bring to light injustices around us

to scold public officials or processes we believe are wrong

to share

and share

and share

Frankly, I'm tired of sharing. At my age, I don't really want to share any more. I feel I've earned the right to just live in my own world and do my work, even if that means I won't have an established "platform" according to the publishing world. I have a Bachelor's in nursing; minors in psychology and sociology. I'm published in both fiction and nonfiction, I have a website and I'm on LinkedIn, Twitter and I have a blog. Initially, that's going to have to suffice.

Having someone that I see in person say to me.... "I saw on Facebook where you said....." feels weird to me. It feels weird because if they see everything I do, see, feel, hear on Facebook, why even get together in the real world? We've probably little to talk about. We've already "shared." I-I----- don't like it. It makes me feel isolated instead of connected. It makes me wonder if Mark Z really thought this Facebook thing through to what type of culture it really would create. Are we honestly more connected? Because I'm not so sure.

I can't really say that I use any of my accounts to stay connected to family because no one in my family uses social media; well, except for my nephew, but I talk to him on the phone. Any other friend, I can text, call or see in person. So I'm thinking......seriously..... of giving up the social aspect of Facebook and only posting blog updates or responding to private messages. (My tween daughter is ALL for it.) I'll use Twitter for a while longer I think because it's more of a professional platform for me, and the people I know on there seriously stop using it after everyone has settled in to work for the day, plus I've won six books off of there this past year and it saved me close to $150. 

So, I'm writing "give up Facebook" in pencil (for now) on my list of New Year's resolutions. 

(This is an awesome book to help keep resolutions ---> This Year I Will.... )

Over the next few days, I'll see what kind of withdrawal I'll suffer or whether I simply won't miss it at all. I know I'll miss the people..... especially my "kids" in Italy -- but I can always pop back on and see how they've grown and what new adventures they've been up to. For the rest of my friends.... see you on email, text, phone or for lunch.

And one last thing:

I got my holiday baking done so of course, now a cold sets in!

Yeah, I can't go cold turkey.