I never got into Facebook the way other people did. I had an account but didn’t really enjoy it, I deactivated it. I then re-activated again during the election last year. I waffled around with it again for almost a year and then deactivated it again for the last time just recently. I got tired of hearing about break-ups, deaths, illnesses and all other things that made me feel like I was reading a tabloid about my friends. I’ve taken a lot of flak for not liking Facebook and not having an account. The common indignant statement is “Well, you have a blog, what’s the difference?” I have a lot more control over my blog than I did a Facebook account. I also don’t like being in big groups of people and being on Facebook was like being in a big group of people; it made me anxious.

The other thing that bothered me about Facebook was how stupid people are on it. I’ve heard any number of stories about people getting bitched out by someone they are loosely connected with about events that they had no part in. I’ve heard about grown adults having to post every single moment of a binge drinking weekend on their page. Best of all, because Facebook is the perfect form for revenge, I’ve heard of jilted lovers airing the failed relationship’s dirty laundry. To me Facebook is like being in junior high or high school again. I didn’t like those places the first time around so I’m certainly not going to sign up for it now.

Granted, the above is nothing new. Plenty of bloggers have committed the same stupidity; Facebook just makes it easier for everybody to get involved in a huge liable suit. When I’m writing for my blog I try to remember that everything that goes into cyberspace, stays there. I don’t say anything on my blog that I wouldn’t say in a conversation with a co-worker.

It’s been mentioned that I don’t always have the happiest of posts. That’s true. Posting about depression serves a couple of purposes for me. One: it’s therapeutic. Two: when I’m in a really low mood, I don’t want to see people so I hope that the people who read my blog will kind of see where I’m coming from and not be offended that they haven’t seen or heard from me for days, weeks, months. Believe me, it’s more for the protection of everybody else than for me. When I’m really down, I’m generally not sleeping very well and this limits my ability to not say exactly what’s on my mind. When I’m depressed, I’ve learned the hard way to stay away from people before I alienate them. However, if anybody thinks for even a minute that they are seeing the darkest secrets of my soul, it’s just not the case. I save the really good stuff for my hand-written personal journals.

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