Why I'm breaking up with Facebook. Again.

United States of America? Seems more like Divided States of America lately. I recently took a 6 month Facebook hiatus before the election. I wanted to clear my head of all of the opinions and "news" to form my own educated vote. I drove home from the polling office excited to finally get back on & see what my friends & family had been up to. I've always been a little nosey & loved social media to keep me in the know on all the things. My FOMO was at an all time high. All of my photos & videos that were saved only in my FB archives could be retrieved. All of the little funny thoughts that popped into my head could once again be shared and the people that gave me grief for getting off (mostly my Mom, she is the only person who thinks I'm as funny as I do.) would finally stop giving me a hard time about it. Let me tell you- people are mad when you delete your Facebook. I even went through a little withdrawal period where I didn't know what to do with my hands in my free time. It became more of a habit than anything. But I missed the social invites and the photos and the check ins. I missed it all. And then I came back. What I saw was unbelievable. Facebook seemed to be more of a political platform than anything. A place to sling hateful memes towards "the other side." My husband said it best to me- he said, "people are either so far left or so far right they fail to see the actual truth in the middle." Don't just believe the articles you read. Do some research. Find out the truth. A friend of mine turned me on to snopes.com & it's by far the least biased venue I have found for factual information, but don't stop there. If you want to fight the government go right on ahead, but educate yourself on the facts first and make sure they aren't laced with bad information. And If you can do this without being disrespectful toward the women that are 'pro-life' at the exact same march as you, fighting for the exact same equality as you, all without feeling it necessary to wear a vagina on your head, then you could very well be changing the world, but if not then you are NO BETTER than what you are protesting. People are all about "equality for all" or "building a better America" so long as it aligns with their own beliefs; otherwise there seems to be a real "you're stupid and I can't be friends with you" attitude. And I'm not saying I haven't played party to all of it. I am guilty too. But this is why I'm disappointed by what social media has become. This is why I'm breaking up with Facebook again. It steals my joy and changes my opinions of people and their opinions of me. Even the people I love the most. I'm taking back my life. For my sanity and for my family. I'll only be back to steal a photo or a video from my archives. Know that I didn't delete you or unfriend you for your differing views. I just think our "Freedom of speech" has quickly gone to "diarrhea of the mouth" and I want to go back to my own ignorant happy world where everybody loves everybody. That's the world I want to raise my kids in, even if It's only within these 4 walls. ☮️ Annie