Early last week I dropped out of Facebook. It got to me. All
the clutter, the self-indulgence, the arguments, the banality. It was building
but Paris blew it.
To be fair, I only went to it three times a day, unless, of
course, as often happened, someone sent me a direct message, then I had to
respond, didn’t I?
Did I? No, but I did, because I had the habit. Only one way
to break a habit – break it.
I know this because I am an addict. My drugs of choice were hard
booze, marijuana, and, in earlier times, anything around, including opium,
hashish and a range of pills. But one day, in fact May the 13th,
1986, I woke up, went to an AA meeting, and never, ever, again, drank, smoked,
dropped, shoved, any mood altering, mind blowing, substance.
Was it easy? Stopping it was, but staying stopped was a lot
harder.
Back to the F book thing.
It started nice and easy, just a few friends, people who
lived down the road a bit, people I saw often. It was just an addition really,
an extension of an ongoing relationship. This is manageable, I thought.
Then it built and now it includes
ex-girlfriends, people I haven’t seen since the 1960s, people I may never see
again who I met while travelling, working, and dreaming.
And now it also includes important people, people I care
for, love, think about most days, even dead people. Yes, the dead people are
still there with their own page, forever, and I don’t mind that, because it
helps me keep them alive in my memory.
But when you add it all up, it’s a universe and we are not
designed to cope with so many people, so much news, so much information. And it's every day, relentless, pounding - Paris, Nigeria, Kenya, Lebanon, Burma, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Esperance .... on and on, all the places I've been, never been but dreamt of visiting and all the places I know people from or still in.
Overload. Too much of everything, including misery. Can only
take so much. Thought I was managing it. Wasn’t. So I dropped out.
And while I was out I remembered it also brought joy, comedy
and inspiration. There was, of course, more to it than I thought when I
dropped.
That was last week. This is a new week. And in your modern
world of the WWW, a week is not a long time in politics, or any other
profession, or even the privacy of your own home.
I’ll go back now, slowly, ease in over the next couple of days. Need a
bit more time to settle, refocus, remind myself what is important. Reflect.
You too. Remember to take time out, from everything.
