Today is the day that I delete my face book account and disconnect my I-Phone.

I know that many people will laugh at me and my decision to “go bush”, maybe making side bets as to how long I will last before I come back to my senses. I don’t know what the current O/U is in days, but my advice is don’t take the odds!

I have been with FB for a loonngg time, started with a personal account, then added business accounts along the way. My main two accounts were the personal one (which is required by FB to have a business account) and the Photography one. Here I posted images, articles and used it as a marketing tool for the photo biz. It had slowly expanded, to more than 4,000 followers. As time went on I saw that the more followers I had, the less people saw the material I posted. Over the past 3 months I spent a total of about $100 “boosting” a few posts. My suspicion is that, in order to extort more money from me to reach the people already following me, FB tweaked their algorithm so that less people saw me, prompting me to pay more $.

But really, as a marketing tool for a photographer, FB is a very ineffective. It requires a good bit of time with little result.

I would sometimes tell myself that I was going to go on FB post quickly and then close it and get on to more productive work, but like a meth head with ADD I would mindlessly surf all over.

There I would sit, seeing a weird mix of funny videos (a demolition derby with the cars pulling mobile homes and campers) and the horrors of the world. Between laughing and crying I would be sharing, making cool, snarky comments and like-ing my way through life, satisfied with myself and the work I was doing to make the world a better place, all with the click of a mouse!

“Johnny, what did you do today to make the world a better place?” I shared a video and made a comment on FB! Yippee!

The truth is that I feel better after pulling weeds in my garden for an hour over being on FB. I accomplished some tangible thing.

I must confess that one feature I will miss is unfriending. I mean how awesome is that? Where else can you see or read or hear someone else’s opinion and just delete them? Fucking awesome! A different political view, an unkind comment about my religion, dissing my fave team, Unfriended, Bitch! HA!!!

The passive-aggressive nature of FB is built right in to it. One can anonymously dis anyone and make belittling comments about others! Really, this is one of the most alarming aspects of FB, feeding the chicken-hearted, weasels ripped my flesh side of humanity.

Yes, I confess I will miss the funny videos, seeing stupid fuck-tards drive fork lifts down a flight of stairs. And I will miss the feeling of moral superiority as I share some cool article about the world banking system and how they are responsible for all that is wrong with our planet. Oh well! L

And then there is the Smart/I-Phone!

I was a long holdout to getting a smart phone; it was only a few months ago that I got one. My rationale was that I could use it to build my business, it would enable me to use Instagram, and well, everyone else had one. I vowed to NOT be that guy who sits with my friends and instead of actually communicating, we all sit nearby, ignoring each other, our collective attention sucked to the small screen enclosing the singularity of a black hole…any…effort…to…pull…away…a…struggle…   

Let me say right away that there are cool aspects of having one. The basic list is getting directions, finding restaurants, and all that. Blah, blah blah. But you know what? I somehow managed to get along without one for a LONG time. It is NOT a necessity.

One could say that having a smart phone offers the opportunity to be spontaneous, you know , you’re driving along and decide suddenly to have Thai food, so you ask the phone for the nearest spots, etc. Well, the phone may not actually understand you, and you get a link to the Two Lips Escort Service, when all you wanted was a map of the tulip fields, but hey, I never knew there WAS a Two Lips Escort Service and it turns out they are VERY nice people, and I mean, how cool is that?

For me I would go to my son’s baseball game and watch. After watching a bit I’d pull out the phone and start connecting, check on my FB friends, see some scores, watch more videos, see the latest news. Whereas before I would just watch the game, maybe chat with the people nearby and think about life. Now my focus was this little all-knowing screen.

In the end having the phone disconnected me.

From people; from events;  from the environment, from the here and now. I became more connected to the over there and the before and/or later.

I admit to having a somewhat addictive personality. I should have been able to use my self-control, to only check my email or FB status every hour, not minute by minute. But, I am a weak minded person and so I lost the battle.

But then, in one last moment of lucid thought it came to me!

I can just un-friend my I-Phone!!!!!

And so that’s where I am going.

Sayonara, Facebook! Adios I-Phone!

Maybe we will meet again, but I sure hope not.