The Negative Side of Facebook

0

It’s been nine years since I made that fatal decision to join Facebook. Not to be dramatic or anything, but I use the word fatal because in a way, I feel like this particular social media platform has slowly ruined a little bit of my outlook on life, friends, strangers and the human race as a whole.

facebook

There have been plenty of times that I will spend about 5-10 minutes looking at Facebook to see what’s going on in everyone’s days and lives. In fact, that’s the whole reason I joined Facebook in the first place. I wanted to “check in” on people’s lives and see how they were doing and what they were doing. I loved catching up with old friends that I hadn’t seen for years and also staying current with my friends I saw regularly. I remember when I first joined- just how fun it was to get back in touch with so many dear, old friends. I would search for old childhood friends and lot’s of times be successful in finding them. It was amazing to see all that had happened in their lives since I had last seen them. But then, Facebook turned into something way more than I bargained for. But by then, I was hooked.

There have been days that Facebook has lifted my spirit up in ways I never saw coming. But then there are times I find myself in the most foul mood, on edge and a bit sad after looking through Facebook. Now, I will admit that I started off on Facebook just writing little updates about my day and commenting on friends pictures of their beautiful families, but lately, Facebook has ended up being a low point in my day. It sucks me in by baiting me with interesting articles and controversial headlines and after reading them it spits me back out bruised, battered and confused. And if I foolishly let myself read the comments from the article, then the damage is even worse.

I long for the days of the early Facebook, where you could jump on and find out the latest with your friends and jump off. Now, I am inundated with articles from so many different “sides”, so many different “issues”, and so many horror stories happening all over our country and in our world. If these articles produced change in the right direction, I would be all for it but they don’t. They create division, sadness and more hate. Will I be quitting Facebook anytime soon? Probably not. But, I certainly have been trying to migrate towards something a little lighter, something with less text and more fun photos and videos. Instagram! I encourage you to do the same! Don’t make my mistake by letting yourself be dragged into negativity each day with internet articles that now seem to flood your Facebook feed.

How do you stay away from all the negativity of Facebook but still stay enjoy the positives of it?