I do understand where you are coming from. Being from the generation that was the first to experience personal computers, bag phones and computerized components on motor vehicles it’s a tough decision to refrain from actively participating.
I despise Fakebook, Instacrap and Twitter. I use all but twitter for some form of advertising my business. I don’t pay for advertising so essentially it only goes out to people I know but it does generate some business.
All social media has become a playground of negativity. It used to be sharing photos and interacting with old Navy and High School buddies. I’m seriously contemplating eliminating the applications much like I’ve already done for professional sports. Would not like the withdrawals though.
I don’t see it as a tough decision. My wife watches television news all day long. All day. It is poison. I don’t watch television at all. I stopped more than 20 years ago.
And it isn’t that I am a Luddite. I work in IT, and am working with some great cutting edge technology in my field. I was one of the first people anyone in my group knew who had a real, useful computer...first digital camera...first iPod, and so on. I was considered to be an “early adopter” and paid big money for new technology.
But I have come to view television, the media, and their extensions of Facebook and other social media as incredibly destructive to humankind.
All things have a duality to them. A hammer may be used to build a beautiful cabinet, or it may be used to bash someone’s brains in.
Cell phones and the Internet have undeniable good aspects to them. But they also have terrible and corrosive aspects as well.
They are not healthy. I think they are outright dangerous for young people in particular, but that ship has sailed. All I can say it, take control of your own life by controlling what gets inside you. You cannot control it for others, but you can control it for yourself.
And by the way, thanks for your service.