When I first got my profile made back in high school, I decided to just use the platform as a way to connect with distant friends and family members. We all know that these days, mainly older people use Facebook. They want to stay in touch with distant relatives, and they think Facebook is the best way to keep up with that.
Facebook's algorithm has changed a lot over the years. I've noticed those changes, but I've continued to use it anyways because I wanted to stay connected. I wanted to continually keep up with my other friends from high school or work, but as my friends list became bigger, the more I began to understand that keeping up is nearly impossible. Facebook will change the appearance of your news feed for a number of reasons that I'm still trying to wrap my brain around in all honesty.
The thing here that I don't like most about Facebook is that it wastes my time. As I've gotten older, I've come to realize that every post I see in my feed is nearly the same. People want to share their thoughts, share the highlights of their life or just post old memes. Everyone's life had always seemed more polished or perfect on social media, but we know this isn't the case in reality. It kind of makes me cringe, knowing how this one tool had lead me to be plagued by negativity and other mental health problems simply because I had a bit of slow start in learning about my own life and such. Facebook, in a nutshell, decreased my self-esteem, but at the same time, it brought me closer to at least one person who I didn't know I needed in my life. The people I chose to reach out through on this platform were real people, but I didn't treat every person I came in contact with the way I should have when I connected with them.
Putting these personal issues aside, I think my biggest annoyance with Facebook is the changes they've made with their privacy policy. We used to have the option of not having our locations out in the open, but now, that's no longer an option- and it's for that reason that I don't have the Facebook app on my phone. It also doesn't seem to be helping my growth as a blogger. It's not like I log in to see if I've gained a massive following or anything, but the amount of hoops I've had to continually hit the ignore button on is tedious. When I first opened up my page, I thought it would be a good opportunity to help build my growth, but at the same time, I also wanted support, so naturally, I invited friends from my personal account.
These days, I try to use Facebook as little as possible as it saves me time and it gives me less tension headaches. One thing that I've found with social media in general is that the less I use it, the less time I spend worrying about gaining that audience or community I was desperate to have in the beginning. Maybe the blogging community in general is just set up differently, or maybe I've just been putting too much thought into it this entire time, but either way, I do feel more happy with myself as well as feeling more productive. Be it, I do occasionally slip up and go on a scrolling binge, but I do try to be responsible and catch myself when I slip into that habit.
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