(The things people say on Facebook should be among them.)
Beginning Jan 1, 2014, I’ll have a new social media policy:
Although my Facebook account will remain open, I’ll only be using it for broadcasting new articles and blog posts, and for private email correspondence. Twitter will also become a posting and listening station only.
Don’t worry: I’m still here. I’ll just be reducing wasted hours in an effort to get more work done, and see more people in-person where we can have even fuller and more satisfying chats. Hopefully, some of them can be with you.
If you have a comment or a question you’d like an answer to, please send me a note or give a call anytime, since I will no longer be participating in comment threads.
It’s been fun at times to discuss ideas at length online, and social media sites offer great opportunities to hash through complex subjects with people you’d be unlikely to ever meet out in the real world.
I’ve seen these kinds of dialogues go surprisingly cordially and well, and have participated in conversations that have left me feeling incredibly fond of people I don’t fully agree with in all cases.
I’ve also participated in conversations filled with such deliberate venom, willful tone-deafnesses, and a knee- jerk readiness to take offense. I’ve witnessed remarkable unwillingness to hear out and reasonably consider alternate perspectives, or to integrate relevant new facts into a discussion.
Of course, I’ve been guilty of the same things myself. Hopefully, less and less so as time goes on.
I’d like to think that I’m far from the worst in this. (Don’t we all?) But I also know that believing that too sincerely is the path to being just plain dreadful about it.
Ultimately, I just can’t keep on engaging via Facebook. I’m not cut out for it. My instinct is to hear out and consider every argument, and to respond in painstaking detail whenever I can.
This ends up taking many more hours out of my weeks than I’d like to admit.
These are hours that I’d much rather spend learning Spanish, playing the piano, writing real articles that I get paid for, reading books, taking MOOCs in whatever new subject catches my interest, making new business contacts, and conversing one-on-one with the people I care about most.
So dear friends: If I don’t engage with you in Facebook threads come January 1st, please know that you can reach me easily via email or phone, or catch up with me anytime on this new daily blog. It should be pretty good most of the time.
Thanks for listening, and I hope to see you around.