Have you ever noticed yourself being in the moment of a great life experience, and finding yourself being sucked out of the joy of that moment,
…because you’re too busy thinking about how you’re going to post the picture of the moment on Facebook & maybe even wondering how people will respond to it?
I have.
When I catch myself doing that, I don’t like it.
It somehow feels like I’m stealing the best of what life has to offer from myself.
I got some great notes from subscribers after my post the other day on some of the negative aspects of using Facebook.
Amanda in Oregon wrote…
“It’s more peaceful to be off of Facebook. Thank you for posting this.”
LT Turner wrote..
“Great post-Paul! In my personal life I have very “few” friends. For me, it’s more about quality vs quantity. I much prefer the quality of fellowship among just a few friends vs having a bunch of “acquaintances” that can look like friends but are really not.”
(Amen to that LT)
Long time friend & fellow freedom crusader George Briere wrote,
“Sweet brother….I started my Facebook cleanse this past April. So awesome, I don’t even miss it anymore. Had to deactivate app on my phone myself to help break the habit of checking Facebook every time I touched my phone.”
(Way to go George! And thanks for the inspiration.)
And one of my friends and subscribers in El Paso Texas, Jeff Brown sent me an interesting article, a confessional of sorts, that Facebook itself published in their own newsroom addressing the question of
“Is spending time on social media bad for us?”
In the article Facebook admits that studies have shown that social media does indeed produce negative mental states including “Worse mental health” and “Worse moods”.
They go on to say that it depends on how you use it.
Those who scan the newsfeed without interacting, and even those who just post status updates without interacting, tend to experience negative affects.
On the flipside they point out that actually interacting with people can produce positive benefits.
And sure, this was probably a PR Spin piece crafted to handle the recent negative press.
Nonetheless, if we are going to continue to have a facebook account or use social media in some way, maybe this can inform the way in which we choose to use it.
- Post less or not at all.
- Interact and develop better relationships with others through the platform.
Interesting to note that these 2 steps – if followed, would probably provide much better results for any networking business as well.
More happiness, better results?
Maybe something to consider.