I'm at work as I write this, doing what that frontline documentary frowned upon, pausing every paragraph, line, sentence, word, to deal with hungry patrons.
So as I turn over the prospect of getting off social media, I'm examining closer the source of any anxiety that notion causes. I have been thinking about what I will miss out on. When I talk to people about social media (which I do frequently) I find that the a reason many of them stay is because they are afraid they'll miss out on something.
Bringing up Facebook with people makes many a little uncomfortable. Being new to it, there are elements others have accepted as everyday and part of their lives yet for me, these are new discoveries. People don't talk about what they do on the Internet. At least rarely out loud or in general conversation. At least in my experience. I'm not sure why this is.
The life one leads on Facebook is different from that of our own. My first thoughts harken back to representations of nothing. At first, a Facebook account is a way to express who you are and what interests you and in some instances make new friends with similar interests. Very gradually it has become a platform for people to brand themselves and create a version to present to the world. A version that has no basis in reality. That's kind of how I see it now.
In My Dinner With Andre, Andre discusses people who live in New York and always talk about leaving but never do. His reasoning is that we have built our own prison, and we are so proud of this thing we built we can't just leave it. And so we exist in this state of schizophrenia, as both prisoner and guard.
I see my peers (hell, myself!) propping up this hollow simulation of a social life. A simulation of a completely fantasy life. The most mundane of activities like going out to lunch can be turned into these extravagant outings, all by how it's framed/filtered in photos one takes. The quality of the experience is lost, because no one needs to remember it, there are pictures.
So what is it that I am afraid of missing out on when I leave Facebook for a week. The first thought is, someone is going to message me and I won't see it resulting in them getting pissed at me. A legitimate concern, except that almost everyone who would contact me on FB have my phone number and email as well, so if it was really important they'd do that right? We'll see. I'm also curious to see if any events or shows are missed. At school I had the luxury of seeing basically all my close friends everyday. Facebook seemed unnecessary. I get similar feelings when I walk through Times Square. That place feels like the cyberspace version of the worlds Facebook feed. Simply living four miles from that place seems to make even reading the news feel superfluous. This is where news happens!
I'm interested to see if my self image changes. Makes me think of a world without mirrors. How much more selfless would we be if we weren't confronted with our tired faces every morning.
I'm looking forward to what I find. It'll be an interesting week.