I broke a rule today and commented on a Facebook page for a sports team. The minor league baseball franchise in Lynchburg changed their name to something I think is dumb. I have no stake in the game knowing I've been to that city for the last time already.
But I wanted to express myself about something which was the original purpose of social media. The idea was that you could tell others what you thought. They would listen!
I made a comment about how the name change irritated me and was another sign of this country's culture of constantly reinventing itself because that's easier. Sure, this is a minor example but I live in a city where I've reported twice on buildings from the 1990's being torn down to make more money.
In my message I just said I was going to unfollow the page as it was no longer relevant as my time in Lynchburg was over. Within a few minutes, two people took the time to express how stupid I was for making a comment in the first place.
I responded, angrily, and then deleted the whole comment. Logged out of this page, wondering what the point is of putting my information out there in a website known to manipulate algorithms?
This world we're in is broken, and the way we communicate is a big chunk of that. I question if what I do with my newsletter is any better, but I am not intending to be social media. I want to tell people things that are happening.
The rule I broke was to express an opinion publicly. This is a rule I put in place myself a long time ago. Today's experience makes me wonder what I'm still doing there except there's so much of my life stored here in data that I could also decide to delete.
So could the owners of the site.
Our place in this world is tenuous at best and perhaps I would do well to find a way to be more secure by finding ways to escape the gravity of the doom scroll.
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