Dear Friends – I haven’t looked at Facebook since the election. I peeked this week and saw the amazing outpouring of birthday wishes you sent to me! Whoa! So incredible to see so many old and new friends just wishing one (me) well! Thank you.
The day after the election – I stopped looking or posting because I was concerned at how much this social network had failed to get any of us to move beyond our preferred ways of thinking.
I was feeling that it was just a giant distraction – where we talked to ourselves. And I was mad.
And when I read in the New York Times about how people made up fake news (more right wing then left wing – but still both ) and how quickly those stories spread on Facebook – sending million of clicks to their web sites and how those liars who made up these hurtful stories profited …. That was just one more reason not to look at this medium.
But this past weekend when I saw how Facebook mobilized protests at the airports to protest the administration’s hurtful and ignorant immigration policy – I was struck deeply by its power and usefulness.
Which Facebook will it be?
Most likely we are all doing our best to learn how to use this wisely. Always check your sources on news stories before you share! Don’t let FB be your only source of news. Support real investigative journalism. Buy a newspaper! Facebook pays no reporters to do the hard work of researching the news.
Facebook changes our brains too – at least I sense its power to distract as does email – and all the apps and technology – good and bad. Like anything – it takes awareness to stay on track – and we will really need that awareness to keep our government from taking away the many things that we have worked for over these many years. And we will need our awareness to keep our work – what ever it is – on track and powerful – so that it can be a force for good. And we will need our awareness to keep our human interactions and conversations undistracted and connecting so they can be a source of warmth and love and light in these dark times.
….so that our hearts can stay filled with love and gratitude for the miracle of our rich lives.