One of the reasons I stopped using Facebook for nearly four
years is because it kept making me wistful for my past. I’d see names from the
good ole days and get all nostalgic and forget about my wonderful life that I
have right NOW. This is my challenge in going on Facebook. I want to reconnect
but sometimes you just can’t. Time passes, people move on.
I have people on my Facebook Friends list who are barely
casual acquaintances, as well as very dear old friends with whom I’m thrilled
to be back in touch. I disappeared
from Facebook for years. I’m back because I want to get back into the game,
such as it is. People I care about are on it, and it’s also a platform for
advertising my blog and other writing I do. So going back on was a rational
decision.
I also stopped Facebook because we moved and I was trying to
build a real 3-D life in my new hometown. This took years of effort, as anyone
who has ever moved a family across the country knows.
Additionally, there was the Facebook Envy. Seeing my old
friends and acquaintances on their vacations and photo shoots didn’t always
make my day. It was Keith Johnstone who once wrote that whenever someone tells
you about something nice that happened to them, it was like they were kicking
you as they spoke. Not that people report nice things to be mean, but sometimes
our more primal selves react with envy at what good tidings that have befallen
our friend. We can still love and respect said friend, but if they win the
lottery, you feel like someone kicked you in the nuts, so to speak.
That’s because we are, on a visceral level. competitive animals.
We eat, we fuck, we shit, we sleep, and that isn’t enough, we always want more.
Our ambitions and our desire to be good at something, brilliant at something,
pushes us. That’s evolution.
So I guess that answers the question.
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