Both cheeks.
Can you imagine walking into the offices of
Facebook, Inc, pulling down your pants, and telling Mark Zukerberg himself to
kiss your ass? How much fun would that be? I'll give twenty bucks
to the first person that does it and sends me a picture to prove it. BUT,
you have to upload the picture to Facebook and you MUST get at least twenty
likes, or THE DEAL IS OFF!
LOLz JK.
I just have to preface this blog post by saying
that I am speaking in regards to my personal Facebook profile and not our KICH
fan page.
Most of you probably already know this I'm sure,
but I deleted my personal Facebook profile about a month or so ago. Not
deactivated, not taking a break, or putting it on pause. DELETED. Yes, the profile that was previously
Andy Crosten and then Skye Kich no longer exists. I spent hours and hours
saving thousands of photos that only existed on my profile, downloading videos
and notes I had written, and messaging all of my friends individually to let
them know I was deleting my profile and give them my contact information of how
to stay in touch with me. There were a few moments when I thought to
myself, "Ugh, is all this work really worth it?" Not to
mention, I had to actually go to Google to find out how to permanently delete
my profile because it's so incredibly difficult to figure out how to do just
from Facebook alone. They make it that way, I'm sure. It gets even
better. Once you have filled out the "delete my profile request
form", they give you two weeks to contemplate this life-changing decision.
During that time, if you change your mind and realize that you just
cannot live without it, you can simply log back into your account and, boom!
Just like that, your profile is up and running again and you are back to
the world of social media addiction.
During conversations with some friends of mine recently, the topic has
come up on numerous occasions. People ask me why I deleted it, how I'm
living without it, and what life is like on “the other side”. Some people
have even expressed certain amounts of anger towards me- saying that it was a
terrible career move, especially for what I’m working towards with my band and
nightlife, etc. How will I be able
to promote and connect with people?! With that being said, ironically enough, the
majority of responses have actually been in the form of flattery, with other
friends of mine commenting on how they have often thought of doing the same
thing, but just don’t have the guts!
I have to be completely honest, I find most of these conversations to be
HILARIOUS! People, seriously. We’re talking about a website
here. We have to wake up and realize
we have become a society that defines itself on numbers. Numbers that don’t mean a damn
thing. How many “friends” we have,
how many “likes” we can get, how many photos we have on our profile, how often
we update our status. Who can be
the most popular!! It’s all become
a narcissistic game of cat and mouse.
Facebook is turning us into opportunists that have difficulty interacting
in our daily lives because we’re so concerned with superficial ideas and
concepts that don’t mean anything when it comes to actual life.
I can’t tell you how many times pointless “drama” has been created
online that has caused troublesome reaction and at times led to serious
consequences in relationships, jobs, etc.
It’s happened to me personally, as I’m sure it has with a lot of you
guys. We all have that one (or in
some cases several) person or people we’re connected with online that just LOVE
to make their opinions heard all over everybody’s pages, even when it’s not
always welcome. This obviously
leads to intense debate over issues that truthfully should be handled through
real life conversation…if it’s even a relevant issue at all! We ALL know just how annoying Facebook
gets during election season! This
is just one example.
I could rant for days about issues concerning Facebook and my opinions
on them including their refusal to honor, and the fact that they are constantly
changing, their privacy settings, how they store tons of information and data
about their over one BILLION users (that’s approximately one in seven of the total
number of people on Earth), the fact that they use selective and personal
advertising to target consumers into buying things specifically catered to your
personal interests…the list could go on and on. But, I don’t want to waste your time by focusing on the
negative. Instead, I want to focus
on how much better and positive my life is now that I took the plunge into the
world of non-Facebook users.
LOL that last part sounds like I’ve begun the process of Alcoholics
Anonymous.
The bottom line is, I deleted my profile because I wanted to spend more
time thinking about and involving myself in things that really matter in life- relationships
with my friends and family, my job, writing music and pursuing my career, to
name a few. I didn’t do it as an
attempt to become less connected with what’s going on in the world. In fact, it was quite the
opposite. I wanted to actually
talk to my friends more and have meaningful conversations, rather than just check
my newsfeed to see what they’ve been up to. I like to read the newspaper, or magazines to find out
what’s going on in the world as opposed to finding out because someone posts
about it. I have found that I feel
much freer because I’m not constantly thinking about checking my notifications
to see how many “likes” I have on a picture or what event I’m invited to. I’m living more in the moment and
focusing on human interaction as opposed to what someone says on his or her
status. I like to talk about
important issues with people face to face, which, yes, can sometimes lead to
intense debate. But, there’s no
room for misunderstanding and the opportunity exists for problem solving in a
practical manner- and most of the time, you don’t lose a friend over the
matter! People CAN agree to
disagree! You wouldn’t believe how
rewarding it is to get a text or call from a friend just to say hello and catch
up, and not once hear, “Oh, I saw on Facebook that you’re doing _____! How’s that going?” Instead, we can actually hear about
these exciting moments and events in person, which is so much more fun and
genuine!
The purpose of this blog isn’t really an effort to start an
anti-Facebook revolution or to get you all to delete your accounts right at
this moment. Although, that would
be really freaking cool if that happened!
I’d be very naïve if I weren’t aware of the positive aspects of
Facebook, as well. It obviously is
an easy means to connect with people who you may not have the opportunity to
see very often and to talk about things you’re doing, etc. Can people still live a happy and
healthy life while being active Facebook users? Of course. People do it every day. I just think it’s extremely important for us as a society to
be aware of the negative impact that it can have on our lives and relationships
and to try to rise above it. For
me, I think the time is coming where more and more people are going to be
coming to this realization and choosing to live their lives without it as well.
I constantly meet people that don’t have a Facebook, and choose to just connect
through other social networking sites like Twitter and Instagram, if they
choose to at all. Social
networking can be a valuable tool to some, and others, not so much. What matters is that you are aware of
the implications of living in a world where social media connects us all, for
better or for worse, and you make a CHOICE. We have to choose to be more than what our Twitter or
Facebook or Myspace profile defines us as, and remember back to the time before
the internet- when all that defined us was the human being.
I still use Twitter, Instagram, and operate the Facebook fan page for
our band, KICH. So yes, I am still
very much a part of the social media world. But, what I like about all of these systems is their
simplicity. You can simply post an
idea or a photo and then be done with it, while still having the opportunity to
connect with fellow users if you choose.
My opinion is that Facebook, with all of it’s systems and tools, just
got too big for it’s britches and is attempting to use it’s power to control
the population is ways it has no business in doing. Will Facebook become the “new” Myspace? When will people get sick of its’
manipulating ways and decide to say goodbye for good? Only time will tell.
So, yes. I am still alive
and doing quite well without my Facebook profile. Life in NYC is great and I’m looking forward to the
Holidays. My Mom and stepdad Steve
are coming up to visit me next weekend, which I’m very much looking forward
to! I’m loving my job at Patricia
Field where I’m meeting tons of great people. It’s a chilly, but nice day outside, so I think I’ll go on a
walk through Riverside Park.
Thanks for reading, and if you got here through our KICH Facebook page,
don’t forget to “like” the post!
……..Just kidding. ;-P
XO, Skye
