focus > facebook

As you may have noticed, my writing is in a down phase; I'm either writing personal updates or passing along found items. I used to stress over not writing, but I finally learned that my blog writing comes in cycles, and it always returns.

These days I'm juggling even more roles than usual, yet instead of feeling overwhelmed and anxious, I'm calm and focused. And I'm noticing that the more I stay away from Facebook, the better I feel.

I'm not anti-Facebook. I've enjoyed seeing what various people are up to, I've expanded my activist network, it's been a great source of news, opinions and updates. But hanging around Facebook was increasing my sense of being unfocused, scattered, distracted. A while back, I wrote about why I don't Tweet.

My life is so full of distractions. I rarely have enough time to focus clearly and at length on the things that matter most to me. I want to read in-depth articles and hefty novels, not skim headlines - in both the literal and figurative sense.

I also want quiet space. I want space in my life not spent in front of a screen of any type.

I started to realize that Facebook was producing the same effect - too much news scrolling past me, too many tiny bits of information without context. Too much distraction.

I've noticed this before, and I would stay away for a while, but eventually I'd feel like I was missing out on something, and that feeling would override my desire for peace and quiet, and I'd get sucked back in. But we're always missing out on something in order to do something else. I have to reconcile myself to not knowing what all these people are doing - just like I did before I joined Facebook, before there was a Facebook.

I just have to keep myself updated on news!