So yeah. I have deactivated my account on the old book of faces (or tits and asses as it used to be–I’ve long thought of it as assbook, for a lot of reasons). I deactivated instead of deleted mostly because I want to hold onto my identity. Really I only waited so long (since October) because of a few personal reasons, mainly family with things happening. I was an early adopter, probably long about early 2007. I decided then I didn’t like it much (I was still hot into blogging then) and dropped off some six months later. I rejoined sometime around selling my first short story, I think.
Thing is, I just don’t think it’s good for people. Something about the platform (and definitely the algorithms and lack of privacy and the owners being a generally shitty unethical folks) just is inherently bad. Probably because of its beginning as a way to judge women on attractiveness. I’m a big believer that un-illustrious beginnings are tough to overcome.
I also have a problem with how addictive it is. Well, it’s not my problem. It’s theirs. I saw something recently that only drug dealers and software engineers call their customers “users.” Too true. I see too many people blame themselves for lack of willpower or whatever; well, social media is fucking heroin for the brain.
I am on Instagram (carefully curated) (and yes I know FB owns it so we’ll see how long it lasts for me–I’ve already noticed shitanigans with the feed in the past year) and Twitter. You can always email me at my first and last name @ g mail, too. I’m highly reachable on the internet and have been since 2004 and the start of SS@S.
Interestingly, some people on Twitter were discussing how boring the internet is now. I think it is in some ways, and in other ways more exciting than ever. (This was about the basic banning of sexual content.) I think if it’s boring it’s because I follow older, boring platforms with older people. I also see people doing wonderfully creative things on platforms I’m not on (through my kiddos). I generally think the internet is only as boring as you make it. If you’re a single issue user on an old platform, yep. That’s boring. Even important issues that need a lot of airtime can get boring after awhile. Certain kinds of humor gets stale. This all is not a crime. It just means it’s time to shake stuff up, I think.
So I might try some other platforms at some point but I’m no performer, which they seem to require. I’ve always been adverse to the camera. Film is not my storytelling mechanism. That said I think it’s a good idea to step outside your comfort zone as a creator so I’m going to think more on it. Dropping a platform makes room for that.