Hanging Up.
Wanky opted out.
No Facebook. No Strava. No Twitter. None of the common social media platforms.
Besides his blog, all he uses now is email. He disabled comments on his blog, so that avenue of public discourse is now closed as well. If you want to reach him, you have to use a direct route. Either you contact him on a one-on-one basis through email or phone, or you (gasp!) meet him in real life.
God, I admire him for that.
I wish I had that sort of resolve. Before Facebook, I was a complete internet bike forum junky. I still am to a degree. Even in my most social media-contracted state, I waste far too much time reading about the trivial while missing the important. However, my brain is wired to place an inflated importance on the trivial, which makes me the target demographic for Facebook. Even with my constant vigilance in filtering out crap that is solely designed to rouse up intense negative feelings in a specific echo chamber, Facebook finds new ways to trigger me every day. Maybe that singular focus on pushing my buttons is why I can't walk away. Anything that is that focuses on me must be good, right?
Still, I'd like to walk away.
I pretty much have my Facebook narrowed down to family and awesome bike people. Unfortunately, family members and otherwise awesome bike people can have radically different views of the world (not a problem) which present themselves on my Facebook feed (more of a problem). Then I have to wade through the posts, getting triggered by this one or that one and searching the internet for something to confirm or refute the original post. Time consuming and ultimately fruitless when viewed from a step back. Differences of opinion that could be resolved in a civil manner face-to-face explode into nuclear crisis-level conflicts on Facebook as keyboard warriors get triggered and trigger others. The trolls get their giggle and Putin gets the western chaos he desires.
I really would like to walk away.
Unfortunately, social media is where stuff gets planned these days. Stuff like bike rides, which I very much like to be aware of. Who went down and snapped a collarbone and who is on form from a bunch of riding in Hawaii while the rest of us were mired in snow and ice. Who has a new baby so will likely be under-rested and fat when race season rolls around...
You know, the important stuff in life.
I don't post much original content anymore. My wife does that. Instead, I post bitter, sarcastic remarks on other people's posts as my way to contribute to the Facebook culture.
That's just how I roll.
...until I can find the brakes on this thing.
No Facebook. No Strava. No Twitter. None of the common social media platforms.
Besides his blog, all he uses now is email. He disabled comments on his blog, so that avenue of public discourse is now closed as well. If you want to reach him, you have to use a direct route. Either you contact him on a one-on-one basis through email or phone, or you (gasp!) meet him in real life.
God, I admire him for that.
I wish I had that sort of resolve. Before Facebook, I was a complete internet bike forum junky. I still am to a degree. Even in my most social media-contracted state, I waste far too much time reading about the trivial while missing the important. However, my brain is wired to place an inflated importance on the trivial, which makes me the target demographic for Facebook. Even with my constant vigilance in filtering out crap that is solely designed to rouse up intense negative feelings in a specific echo chamber, Facebook finds new ways to trigger me every day. Maybe that singular focus on pushing my buttons is why I can't walk away. Anything that is that focuses on me must be good, right?
Still, I'd like to walk away.
I pretty much have my Facebook narrowed down to family and awesome bike people. Unfortunately, family members and otherwise awesome bike people can have radically different views of the world (not a problem) which present themselves on my Facebook feed (more of a problem). Then I have to wade through the posts, getting triggered by this one or that one and searching the internet for something to confirm or refute the original post. Time consuming and ultimately fruitless when viewed from a step back. Differences of opinion that could be resolved in a civil manner face-to-face explode into nuclear crisis-level conflicts on Facebook as keyboard warriors get triggered and trigger others. The trolls get their giggle and Putin gets the western chaos he desires.
I really would like to walk away.
Unfortunately, social media is where stuff gets planned these days. Stuff like bike rides, which I very much like to be aware of. Who went down and snapped a collarbone and who is on form from a bunch of riding in Hawaii while the rest of us were mired in snow and ice. Who has a new baby so will likely be under-rested and fat when race season rolls around...
You know, the important stuff in life.
I don't post much original content anymore. My wife does that. Instead, I post bitter, sarcastic remarks on other people's posts as my way to contribute to the Facebook culture.
That's just how I roll.
...until I can find the brakes on this thing.
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