I gave up Facebook for Lent. Before college, I thought Lent was just for Catholics and about not eating meat. This year is my first time participating in it, and it's been a good experience so far. Though I was lonely the first night my hubby went to work and I was stuck at home, since then, I really haven't missed social networking and have enjoyed having more time to do things like starting this blog, reading, crocheting, cooking and baking, spending time with friends in person, sending out my would-have-been-Christmas-newsletter (in March), and mailing cookies to my papa (grandpa).
I've also been reflecting on how I want to use Facebook when I log back in at the end of the month, especially now that I have this blog as an expressional outlet. At times, Facebook can be a horribly distracting vice of mine (especially since I got a smart phone this past fall), and it can also be a source of stress--both from agonizing over the pseudoscience and ridiculously partisan things that some people post on there, but also from dealing with trolls and worrying over properly choosing my audiences for certain things I post. It really isn't a good medium for having certain kinds of discussions, especially if they involve politics (as evidenced during our idiotically long American election seasons).
I really enjoyed reading this post by Darrell Dow (a conservative Republican who is spending a year as a Democrat and consciously re-evaluating his biases, building empathy and critical thinking in the process)--check it out:
10 Ways To Ensure Any Political Discussion Turns Into a Pointless Argument
How about you--have you participated in any regrettable discussions/arguments on social networks? Was there a particular experience that caused you to lose a friend or changed the way you post?
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