Damaging A Habit

I'm starting with a one-day resolution. Somehow I'll stay off all three of my active Facebook accounts. No particular reason. Nothing weird going on. It's just that so often I feel terribly unproductive for being distracted and unable to focus. Any brain chemistry oddities notwithstanding, the brilliant manner in which Facebook encourages addictive behaviors doesn't help. It really is brilliant: By its very nature it is self-designing. The experience is adjusted automagically by each person's usage patterns, to become most attractive as a momentary break from work life (and deliver profitable ad content). And so I interact in ways I like with people I like and am introduced to articles that appeal to me. But at the end of the day little of it has been of any lasting value and I don't feel good about my work day. Today I'm going to try and remember that when I have the impulse to go look, don't. Just say no.

Three active Facebook accounts, you say. Well, there's yer problem. That may be. It's true that with only one, one can be "done" more quickly. But it's also true that people like me, who crave interaction yet tend to self-isolate, can create endless activity online readily enough. I suspect that with just one account, I'd find ways to spend just as much time at it.

So, yeah, three. One under my legal name that mainly involves writing friends, family, and people I knew in high school. Another under a pseudonym that connects me with the Burning Man community and the two hundred or so friends I have in that, plus endless rounds of related parties and concerts and events. That's the most active account and in fact I have plenty of friends who know and care nothing of my legal name but know me as the pseudonym. The third was created on a lark to make use of a "clever" name but became useful when I discovered a discussion group around open relationships. It turns out to have very dynamic and useful conversations and since some people who know me might also participate, and I might be working through some challenge involving my partner, to not do so under yet another pseudonym risks violating her privacy. As it turns out I've seen no one I know in there. But it could happen.

Not today, though. No Facebook for me. As easy as it is to check every eleven minutes wherever I am and whatever I'm doing, I'm going to try and remember not to. See what difference it makes.