Facebook

 My name is Ann Durham, and I am addicted to FaceBook.

And I've decided that, for the most part, I'm OK with that.

My typical morning:  Get up, brush teeth/hair, get dressed, feed squirrels, feed cats, feed peacocks, feed chickens, feed myself.  While doing the latter I log onto Facebook.  This would be fine if I read for the 15 minutes or so while I have breakfast - and that's what happens on the two mornings that I go to work.

Those other 5 days?  I'll be on for an hour, maybe two.  One problem is that my first chore post-breakfast is to clean the collection of litter boxes, which is not a lot of motivation.

The reason I've decided that I'm OK with that is that it's during this time that I feel engaged.  I usually exchange a few messages with Ebaida.  Sometimes an exchange about spinning with Adrienne.  Bob's friend Dan O' (who is nice enough to check in on me from time to time) might send a picture of an interesting costume or old building.  Then there's all the stuff that pops up in my feed.  What the spinners/weavers are making.  What the puppet makers are making (one guy makes adorable tiny dragons).  The cute cat pictures.  What my friends are posting about their lives.  Emma's daughter Talia, now 3, singing the days of the weeks to the tune of the Addam's family (it works).  How Christy and Rik had to put one of their sheep down but did an emergency C-section and saved the two lambs.    If I've posted anything, to see if there are responses (I've learned not to lean on counting the "likes" - that way lies madness).  Yes, there's also a *lot* of crap on FB but I am very fast with the scrolling finger.

It's also a way of informally letting people know that you think about them, which I think is especially important in These Covid Times.  You see an interesting article, or cartoon, or add for an online class,  and you can just click and share to someone.  I know I smile when someone does it for me - just that nice feeling that someone out there thought about you for a moment, and wanted to share something.

Some of the connections are mind-boggling.  I saw a fascinating strange huge puppet on a video for the musical "Love Never Dies."  Posted it on the puppet board.  Someone in Mexico had borrowed the production book from a theatre in Australia and could tell me about it.  I've had a chat with the people who made Rod Hull's Emu puppet (and he never paid them!).  A short exchange with the director of the musical "Rumi" in London.

FB is an easy way to do video chats.  Just this week I've done a face to face with Ebaida and twice with Diane.  Soon I'll schedule having tea with a friend in England.

And there are all the interesting side trips - random links that pop up.  Articles on archaeology, or how it's almost impossible to kill a tardigrade, or mythology. 

I can check to see if there's anything interesting going on that I might want to go to (there's a group that's going to be trying to remove an invasive plant from a park this weekend - I'm thinking about it.  It's people that I don't know, but it's also outside.

So it makes me feel engaged.  I don't want to give that up.

What I want to do is try to show some restraint.  It's not just the morning thing.  It's the temptation to check it a dozen times a day, because something interesting might pop up.  It's doing the random scrolling.  My goal is to turn the computer off earlier at night, because when it's late and I'm tired is when I'll spend an inordinate amount of time clicking on stuff like "30 weirdest stories from the ER."    It's because looking at random stuff on the screen is the same as just flipping channels on the TV to see what's on - it keeps you from getting up and doing anything else (like going to bed at a reasonable time).

So I should turn it off now - except that there's a podcast on silk that I want to listen to while I spin.  Found the link to it on FB.

I'll be curious to see that if/when this damned pandemic backs off, if I'll actually go out and do anything.  The problem is that Bob and I were pretty insular and content with each other's company - so it's not a matter of "getting back into something" as it is doing something completely new and different for me.  But if I do find other forms of engagement, will I automatically back off on Face Book?  That's something for Next Year's Self to find out.