6 reasons I deactivated Facebook
Joy signed me up for Facebook. She wanted to see what it was like, so she signed me up. I think it was 2006, the year after I was called to Trinity. I quickly fell in love with connecting, keeping tabs on what my friends and family were up to. Later, LIKES! What a hit! What a crash. What pride! What shame. My Facebook era is nearly concurrent with my Trinity era. I’m staying at Trinity but not on Facebook. Why?
While I’d like to blame someone else, my main reason for deactivating FB is…me. My ‘relationship’ (the Jacques Ellul part of me is quivering) with FB undermines my prioritized relationships. I am less present as a husband and father. I am the self-appointed parish policeman instead of the parish pastor. I mistake knowing about and having an opinion about issues with actual neighboring. FB isn’t a prioritized relationship. I actually don’t really want a relationship with it. I want to be where my feet are.
Then there are some of my own addictive impulses and temptations to curate a life that looks better than it is, to look smarter than I am, to appear holier than I am. I practice a daily habit called “the shepherd’s voice” where I pay attention to the Moravian Daily texts in such a way that they function in a primary speech manner. For some time (3 years) the most repeated theme has been an invitation to “pay attention.” For a few weeks, a common theme has sounded something like, “Are you content to be hidden in me? Known by me, unknown to others?” Deactivating removes your posts, photos, and interactions from public view. The first day after I deactivated, I felt like a missing persons report should be filed. This exposes how much of my online life felt like real life. Not even 24 hours after deactivating, I moved from feeling missing to hidden. In such a good way. Being hidden is so different than going missing.
The Social Dilemma: Uff da.
Too much pressure (again, probably internal) to respond or react to every world event, to have a strong opinion about everything, to be an expert on matters that others have given their life to study/contemplate/research.
The last election cycle, and the one before that was very damaging for my soul. Another one is here. Social media amplifies “conflict entrepreneurs.” That is volume I am looking to turn down, not up.
I thought I might be happier without it. I am.
