Social or Not

It has been several days since I dismounted from Facebook, and I have to say that it is a real adjustment. Since I am writing here (and will remain writing here as long as there is a here here), it is clear that I need to reach out to the larger world and share my thoughts about things that matter to only a handful of people. But they (as in you) are MY handful of people. People who might need a bit of company as they ponder life from their little particular islands.

I also added my face and a few words to Bluesky (@musicalassumptions.bsky.social), but I haven't been able to figure out how to use for my purposes.

But I can get news in nearly real time from Bluesky, and it seems mostly to be from reliable sources.

In my snow-covered Illinois world Michael and I are starting to read Infinite Jest. He has taught it, and has a bunch of supplemental material to share with me to bolster the experience.

If The Power Broker helped me understand the workings of the world that we were presented with during the last couple of months, and I am hoping that this book will help me to understand the unfolding of the outside world in the months to come.

As for Facebook and Instagram, I will miss the calligraphy. I will miss the animals. I will miss the musicians and the discussions about music. I will miss the art, and will miss the news about local events, though they often come into my feed--or came into my feed--after the event passed.

If you are a person I know from the Facebook world, please leave a comment here (or on any post). I don't like what has happened to the Meta platform, and I don't like the fact that leaving it (whatever it is) makes me feel like I have lost touch with friends.

I need to remind myself that we are people who live in the actual world, and the actual things we do in that world matter. The high speed of communication in the Metasphere makes my real-time life feel kind of unimportant, which is silly to say, because it is the only life I have. But I choose not to contribute my humanity to a world controlled by a group of money-making entities promoting a set of "truths" that I am not willing to accept.