Feeling disillusioned . . . .

I find myself feeling rather disillusioned these days.

There are a few reasons for these feelings and it's rather personal. I know many people will not understand or care but I feel the need to express why I am feeling the way I am and some possible changes.

First, I have to say again, I never liked facebook.  I have written many times about how I don't like facebook but I don't usually go off on long involved rants about the manipulative Orwellian nature of social media. This being my "business" blog afterall, I don't normally talk about politics or the pandemic or my depression, but I am not just an artist and small business owner I am a whole person with many facets.  One of those facets is the fact that I have never trusted the concept of social media, before facebook even existed or became such a huge problem I'm talking back in the days when the daughter wanted to be on MySpace.  I have always had concerns about the use of social media, I have always had concerns about the manipulative and addictive nature, I have always had concerns about the depression triggers of one's self esteem and self worth being tied to a positive response of virtual strangers.  

Blame it on my IQ or my psychology and sociology classes I have always known the dangers and I resisted.  I watched as our daughter struggled in high school and I tried to limit the exposure and damage but I think I failed her. I resisted joining facebook for Years. I still refuse to join or even read Twitter or Reddit. These big tech companies are all about knowing you better than you know yourself so that they can manipulate you by manipulating the content you see in order to manipulate your thoughts and desires.  I for one have never been on board with signing away my free will and independence of thought.

"If you are not paying for the product, then you are the product."

I caved a few years back and finally joined facebook and created the business page and I have fought the controlling manipulative nature of the beast ever since.  I very rarely enjoy my use of facebook and the new format they are pushing, well I refuse to use.  It has been forced on my screen and each time it shows itself my brain rejects it, that may sound strange but it is true. There are subliminal psychological manipulative triggers built in and although I cannot fully identify them, as I am not in on what they are trying to do. I know they are there and my mind is resisting them because trying to use the new screen gives me a migraine-y headache in less than 10 minutes. Now you may be thinking "she's crazy I don't have that problem". I'm sure most people don't, the overwhelming majority of people will never realize what is happening to/in their brains, in fact, facebook is counting on that.  I am aware that this probably sounds paranoid and slightly insane but it is what it is and I am not wrong.  

I have tried for years to warn friends and family about facebook use, the dangers of oversharing, the data collection from what you think is innocuous comments that actually lead to identity theft, the loss of the concept of privacy.  No one listens, often they get defensive and take it personally like my attempting to warn them is somehow insulting their intelligence, even though if they were truly intelligent they would not need to be warned that publicly sharing everything with the entire globe is not really safe.  People who really should know better often revert to the child-like "everybody does it" defense, that my Momma always responded to with "if all your friends jumped off a bridge would you?"  

This is a fundamental personality trait you are either a jumper or a thinker and in the last couple of decades I have watched as our society has shifted proportionally to be more jumpers than thinkers.  I have watched as people I thought I knew have changed on a fundamental level from thinkers to jumpers and I find it really sad and hard to accept.  To be blunt and perfectly honest I don't want to play anymore, but our society has become so tech ingrained and dependent that there is virtually no escape.

The fact that the concept of a "social media cleanse"even exists should tip you off about the addictive and destructive nature of social media.  Think about it, if it were not addictive, manipulative, and destructive then you wouldn't need to "cleanse" which is like detoxing from heroine.  The problem is social media is not only as addictive as a dangerous drug, the real problem is people do not realize it and that makes it even more dangerous. If you knew a friend was addicted to a deadly drug you would want to get them help, you would want them to quit but with social media no one wants you to quit, everyone encourages you to not give up. 

I have had these growing concerns for a decade and I see the problems only getting worse. If you think this is purely paranoia maybe you should watch the Netflix show /the social dilemma_ where the founders and creators of these manipulations confess the true nature of what they created and how they have lost control. 

I plan to dramatically reduce my use of facebook and other social media.  I am aware that it will likely dramatically and negatively impact my business. Face it what is an online business without social media to promote it?