Facebook Hiatus
I've decided lately to take a hiatus from Facebook. Despite it's good qualities (I do like keeping up a bit with distant friends and acquaintances) it seems to just turn into a social media trap. The trap is, that we focus so much on whether we agree with someone or not, we don't look at it closely enough to determine if it's true.
For instance, I read an article that critiqued almond milk producers because their product was 97% water. Then I looked at the recipe shared for making your own almond milk. Here's a hint, it ended up being about 97% water (you start with a 4:1 ratio of water to almonds, which is already 80% water, then when you're done, you TAKE OUT THE ALMONDS). So, you can spread bad news about a company because you don't like the way their product tastes, or you can think about the actual method of making almond milk and realize that it is actually mostly water, which is why it's so low in calories.
My point is, people just leap without thinking into liking or agreeing with someone or something. Then they post only things they agree with. Then they start posting things that the people they agree with are agreeing with. Do you see my point here?
We're quickly becoming 1984 all over again (I mean the book, not the year, it was a great year to be born). We're agreeing with the majority and unfriending those we don't agree with. We're celebrating passivity and ignoring our actual lives. We're scrolling past posts we don't agree with and following people we barely know. We're having online parties and reading questionable material simply because it agrees with our own ideas.
Celebrate someone who's different than you this week. Take a day off your online world and read a real newspaper. Research articles at random, preferably before sharing them again.
I'm not saying that the almond milk article was the breaking point, but seriously people, it's not really milk.
So, if you want to invite me to your event on Facebook, just mention it the next time you see me in person.
For instance, I read an article that critiqued almond milk producers because their product was 97% water. Then I looked at the recipe shared for making your own almond milk. Here's a hint, it ended up being about 97% water (you start with a 4:1 ratio of water to almonds, which is already 80% water, then when you're done, you TAKE OUT THE ALMONDS). So, you can spread bad news about a company because you don't like the way their product tastes, or you can think about the actual method of making almond milk and realize that it is actually mostly water, which is why it's so low in calories.
My point is, people just leap without thinking into liking or agreeing with someone or something. Then they post only things they agree with. Then they start posting things that the people they agree with are agreeing with. Do you see my point here?
We're quickly becoming 1984 all over again (I mean the book, not the year, it was a great year to be born). We're agreeing with the majority and unfriending those we don't agree with. We're celebrating passivity and ignoring our actual lives. We're scrolling past posts we don't agree with and following people we barely know. We're having online parties and reading questionable material simply because it agrees with our own ideas.
Celebrate someone who's different than you this week. Take a day off your online world and read a real newspaper. Research articles at random, preferably before sharing them again.
I'm not saying that the almond milk article was the breaking point, but seriously people, it's not really milk.
So, if you want to invite me to your event on Facebook, just mention it the next time you see me in person.
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