Facebook

Facebook has become a common form of communication among people. But truth be told, Facebook is a lie. It makes one feel like they aren't alone in their universe, or bored in their existence, like the random thoughts that flow through their brain at any given moment actually matter. Why? Because they have a real time examination of whether or not their circle of people "like" it or not. Not because they have someone looking them in the face and challenging their thoughts or their reactions. Facebook is false. And I'm becoming less and less inclined to utilize it. 

I want to feel lonely. Okay, not in the geniune aspect of the words, but if all that I have to connect me with the world is facebook, then I need to feel the loneliness that is my masked reality. People need people. We need conversations and challenges. We need to get our hands dirty and our feet wet. We need to be out living the lives that we watch from our couches in the form of reality tv programs. We need to stop feeling so "connected" so that we can actually be connected.

It's why Skype isn't good enough. I feel like I realize these internet myths all the more strongly when Chief is away. Yes, I have access to him in the form of social media. We connect via video chat or through conversation, but I do not feel close to him at all. I don't feel the bond that I feel when I sit down and take out a piece of paper and actually write him a letter. I don't feel the intimacy that I experience when I open up an envelope and read the words he's written to me. I don't smell him, or touch him, or taste his sweet kisses. The internet... lies. 

I've been gradually distancing myself from the facebook platform. And not in favor of any other platform. It's not that I'm paranoid about privacy or the taliban trying to seek revenge. It's not that I feel like the facebook guru's are going to steal my photographs and ruin my children's entire future. It's just that I'm tired of pretending like I'm so interconnected with so many people, when the reality is that I'm not. I'm tired of spoon feeding myself the false notion that I have all of these "friends" when the truth is I can count on one hand the number of people who I genuinely trust and know I can rely on. The kind of people that I know see me for who I really am, in all my hilarious, preposterous, outrageous, and insane glory. The people who've experienced my tangents, my disappointments, my tears, and my rage. The people who know that I would walk to the ends of the earth to support them, encourage them, accept them, and will them to higher places than they ever believed themselves capable of. The kind of people that you can go forever between a meal together, or a glass of wine, and it's okay because the love is never, ever lost. Ever.

But Facebook doesn't allow you to realize that. It sucks up your time and your distractions and makes you lose sight of what matters. Facebook is dangerous to the human psyche. 

No, this is not some grand announcement that I'll be deleting my page. No, I'm not coming from a viewpoint that I'm so high-and-mighty like I'm not addicted to the page... No, I'm not saying we should protest or riot or cancel Christmas because Facebook is destructive. But yes... send that email. Pick up that phone. Hell, come over! Pull down the curtain and realize the truth. You are more than the number of likes on your comments. You are deeper than the fleeting gratification of someone reading your words. For the love of yourself, get up and interact with a person, face to face. Because that's where the real living really is.