Today one of my Facebook friends posted that she was going to leave social media. She is not the first. Many of my friends are doing this, and my Facebook feed is getting sparser because of it.
I get it. These days there can be a lot of Nasty on social media. Feelings are running high, and sometimes posts and replies can be harsh.
I also understand that many fear the power of the Facebook company, with its various algorithms and such. Or there might be legitimate privacy concerns, such as those my niece has because her husband is an FBI agent.
But I like Facebook for many reasons—most of which will disappear if my friends give it up. So, here is my plea.
Please stay on Facebook and keep posting cute photos of your kids’ Halloween costumes. Many of you live far away and this is the only way I can see how those kids are growing and changing. And these days, I don’t even get to see the neighborhood kids unless you post their photos on Facebook.
Please stay on Facebook and share your joys. I love seeing your remodeled kitchen, hearing about your new job, and learning about what you cooked for dinner. In the midst of Covid-quarantine, I learned that a neighbor in the next block had a new baby. I hadn’t even known she was pregnant! What a joy to be able to share happiness with those I don’t see often.
Please stay on Facebook and share your trials. One Facebook friend posted regularly during the weeks and months of her father’s last illness. Through her candor, I was able to share in this loving journey, and remember my own father’s death. I came to love her more, understand myself better, and appreciate all we share as humans.
Just recently another Facebook friend shared her daughter’s serious illness. I wouldn’t know about this without Facebook, but now I do, and now I can add my prayers to hers.
Please stay on Facebook and share funny pet videos, memes, and jokes. I love to laugh with you even though we are far apart.
Please stay on Facebook and share your uplifting thoughts. Often the quote or scripture or video is just what I need.
And absolutely continue sharing your adventures, hikes, vacations, and the beauties you find. I love vicarious traveling!
Please stay on Facebook and participate in the special FB groups. Our neighborhood Facebook group is such a great way to share stuff. I love cleaning out a closet, finding something good I don’t need, posting about it, and sending it to a new home where I know it will be appreciated. I love getting free stuff too. Last spring, not long after my daughter and her family came to stay with us for Covid, someone posted they had a child’s kitchen to give away. I snagged it and little Lucia has been happily playing with it for months.
I also love the Provo Facebook group where I learn about what’s going on in the city, and about issues facing our community. I love hearing the different perspectives and then making my own decisions.
Which leads me to my last point, which surprises even me. Please stay on Facebook and keep sharing your opinions. I know this is the very reason that people are quitting Facebook.
Okay, just give me a minute here to explain.
Among my Facebook friends are people with very diverse viewpoints. There are ultra- conservative folks and ultra-liberal, as well as lots of people more in the middle but trending one way or another. I often don’t agree with what people say in their political posts, but I like all the people I have chosen to add to my Facebook. Because I like them, I give them a chance, and I try to understand what is behind their posts. Even though their posts may not persuade me, I think they provide me with a broader understanding of the make-up of our country on this election eve.
That said, personal attacks and angry exchanges are not what I look for on Facebook, and I try not to read those. Certainly, they are not to be engaged with.
Also, though I enjoy seeing links to news articles that back up friends’ opinions, I do not rely on those links as my sole source of information. I believe in getting my news from professional news organizations, not from Facebook. In fact, I try to read several different news reports from a variety of sources with different political leanings. That way, in the aggregate, I get a more balanced view of what is actually going on. I depend on Facebook to connect me with people, not as a way to gather facts.
That is why I am making this plea. I rely on Facebook to connect me with you. And you. And you and you and you. Facebook helps me to see the world--not as monolithic parties, coalitions, or blocs--but as a collection of faces, of individuals, each one with joys, fears and opinions. It helps me know that the conservative is a person. That the liberal is one too. That maybe we can learn from each other and become a little better because of what we learn.
So please, stay on Facebook. I believe Facebook has the potential to help us become a community, a place where we can learn from each other, help each other, pray for each other, and lift each other. I believe, used well, Facebook can provide us with the personal connection that can heal our neighborhoods and our country.
And now, whatever happens on Election Day, that is what we need.
