Pausing

Deep breath.

Hi. I’m leaving this note here, to let people know that I will be taking a break from Facebook and Twitter for a while as a result of the election.

Facebook, while an easy way to keep connected, became a curse this year. I’ve lost friends because I tend to be passionate about my political opinions, and in the light of the current historic fiasco, it is guaranteed that I will lose more friends if given an easy way to “exchange ideas.” I have opinions about the election right now that are definitely of the listener-stomps-out variety. I’ve been called all sorts of things by people who don’t know me, and people who should know better, and I don’t need that right now.

I’m pausing because, in spite of my ability to be a mouthy jerk, I found myself censoring myself and aligning with causes which I really didn’t have my heart in, largely because the behavior of the other side of the issue appalled me and –there’s no other way to phrase it– I was badgered by people roughly on my side of things. And I’m not specifically speaking about the presidential race, but globally about several issues.

And I just can’t bear to read the news annotated with comments from people who couldn’t pass a sixth-grade history test. Or English. Or Biology.

Twitter moreso. Twitter is a cancer. Not to mention the role it played in bringing an uncurious, narcissistic sociopath to the presidency.

There is no logic in engaging in conversation with people who would be happy to put you and your family at the end of a rope.

Is this an echo chamber? Possibly. But I’ve grown to see that ideas aren’t really exchanged, and I have better things to do than witness grown white men having tantrums and high-fiving a bully.

So I will be taking a small break, possibly to return with some serious tweaking of my news feed, strenuous pruning of my friends and followers, and lusty application of the block feature.

But I’m already seeing the advantages of being away from this distracting and dispiriting diversion. I’ve been following news, real news, and it is edifying.  I  will miss the memes and videos of kids, though.

As things occur to me which I might have posted on Facebook and Twitter in the past, for the time being I will leave them here. I will leave this blog connected to my social media accounts, and people are free to share them if they like. And I can be reached here if need be.

See you on the other side, maybe.