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Facebook is a tool for communication, not the story of my life.
I’ve never put anything on the internet (even under the pseudo-anonymity of my blog) that I wouldn’t want to see printed and stuck to my office door. Most of what I put on the internet I say to the people I work with, my family, and my friends. I am not embarrassed by any of it. Then why, you ask, would I delete it?
Yes, I am going through and slowly (oh so slowly) deleting everything I’ve posted on Facebook and untagging myself from every picture. While nothing is ever truly deleted on the internet (which is why the first paragraph is so very important), at least I won’t have it laid out in such graphic format when I’m forced to have Facebook’s new ‘Timeline’ profile.
I may be in the minority that does not want to see everything I’ve ever posted. Perhaps because it reminds me of how boring the daily grind really can be. But perhaps it’s also because no matter how much I post (which isn’t that often, comparably) what’s online is, and never will be, a complete picture of who I am (see paragraph 1). Facebook is not the story of me, not even close. Facebook is a tool I use to communicate with people, not a diary defining who I am. It’s not the story of my life.
Even if it were, too much self-reflection, I think, is bad for me. There are a lot of things in the past, near and far, I’d like to forget. This isn’t to say I’m unhappy! I am very happy with my life, with my accomplishments. But to see the occasional accomplishment smattering in the middle of dozens of inane, silly posts? To realize how much time I've wasted on games? And even worse, that smattering of cranky posts? Who wants to see/remember that?
Sure, there are a lot of really great things I want to remember, but… that’s why I have a memory. And pictures… on my hard drive and in albums at my house, and if I really want to memorialize it, on my website where I have some control over it. I’m never going to forget Clue Valentine, or dancing the Bellydance Hookie Pookie at Siham’s picnic. My accomplishments are detailed elsewhere through pictures, patterns, tutorials.
I’m more than willing to forget the silly, inane Facebook status updates I’ve made over the last few years. And why do I want to look back on an on-line exchange with someone I am (for whatever reason) no longer friends with? Do I need it laid out in black and white (and blue) how little I really do? How boring my life sometimes is? How stupid I can be?
I delete a lot of things. I delete old Tweets and blog entries (as time allows, and when I feel like it). I look at the internet as a conversation, moments I shared with friends that don’t have to be documented. I don’t record my phone conversations or save every e-mail I’ve ever gotten, so why keep blog posts? And what am I ever going to do with them? I don’t have time to deal with everything I need to do now, when do I have time to stroll down memory lane? And what purpose will it serve?
Those of you who know my struggles of late with cleaning and organization (ugh, FlyLady) know that I even have started purging records that you can arguably say are important to keep – old bills, receipts, etc. But how important are they really? If I keep my bank statements, I have a record of every utility bill paid. My bank has scans of my cancelled checks online. Receipts are useless past the return date (and the heat-printed ones fade entirely after a few months, anyway). Sure, I could scan it all in, but… why? When was the last time you needed a receipt (except for major purchases, which have their own folder) that was more than a year old? Are you really going to return that box of cereal you bought after seven months? Can you get a refund on a restaurant meal after eight months? Do I really want to look back and see how much money I’ve wasted on yarn? Or corsets? I can’t change any of that, so what’s the point?
That may seem unrelated, but clutter is clutter – paper bills, computer files, and even mental clutter (oh, yes, it sounds so psycho-babble/new age, but it is true). Whether it’s my old gas bills or a tweet from 2009 (was I on Twitter in 2009? Who knows…) I just don’t need it hanging around, I guess.
And when, honestly, will I ever need to re-read some stupid ‘ugh today sucks’* post from two years ago?
I don’t know – it’s really hard to put into words why I dislike this so much. Why I don’t want it out there in that format. It might be more they way they are marketing it (‘story of your life’) as opposed to what it truly is (another way to view information that’s always been there, though it used to be very hard and time-consuming to scroll back very far).
* So far in my delete-a-thon I’ve come across two such posts, one that said something along the lines of ‘Today can roll around in broken glass shards and dive into a pool of lemon juice’ and ‘Today can give itself a thousand paper cuts and take a swim in the Dead Sea’. Posted several months apart, which just shows you how unoriginal and predictable I am.
I’ve never put anything on the internet (even under the pseudo-anonymity of my blog) that I wouldn’t want to see printed and stuck to my office door. Most of what I put on the internet I say to the people I work with, my family, and my friends. I am not embarrassed by any of it. Then why, you ask, would I delete it?
Yes, I am going through and slowly (oh so slowly) deleting everything I’ve posted on Facebook and untagging myself from every picture. While nothing is ever truly deleted on the internet (which is why the first paragraph is so very important), at least I won’t have it laid out in such graphic format when I’m forced to have Facebook’s new ‘Timeline’ profile.
I may be in the minority that does not want to see everything I’ve ever posted. Perhaps because it reminds me of how boring the daily grind really can be. But perhaps it’s also because no matter how much I post (which isn’t that often, comparably) what’s online is, and never will be, a complete picture of who I am (see paragraph 1). Facebook is not the story of me, not even close. Facebook is a tool I use to communicate with people, not a diary defining who I am. It’s not the story of my life.
Even if it were, too much self-reflection, I think, is bad for me. There are a lot of things in the past, near and far, I’d like to forget. This isn’t to say I’m unhappy! I am very happy with my life, with my accomplishments. But to see the occasional accomplishment smattering in the middle of dozens of inane, silly posts? To realize how much time I've wasted on games? And even worse, that smattering of cranky posts? Who wants to see/remember that?
Sure, there are a lot of really great things I want to remember, but… that’s why I have a memory. And pictures… on my hard drive and in albums at my house, and if I really want to memorialize it, on my website where I have some control over it. I’m never going to forget Clue Valentine, or dancing the Bellydance Hookie Pookie at Siham’s picnic. My accomplishments are detailed elsewhere through pictures, patterns, tutorials.
I’m more than willing to forget the silly, inane Facebook status updates I’ve made over the last few years. And why do I want to look back on an on-line exchange with someone I am (for whatever reason) no longer friends with? Do I need it laid out in black and white (and blue) how little I really do? How boring my life sometimes is? How stupid I can be?
I delete a lot of things. I delete old Tweets and blog entries (as time allows, and when I feel like it). I look at the internet as a conversation, moments I shared with friends that don’t have to be documented. I don’t record my phone conversations or save every e-mail I’ve ever gotten, so why keep blog posts? And what am I ever going to do with them? I don’t have time to deal with everything I need to do now, when do I have time to stroll down memory lane? And what purpose will it serve?
Those of you who know my struggles of late with cleaning and organization (ugh, FlyLady) know that I even have started purging records that you can arguably say are important to keep – old bills, receipts, etc. But how important are they really? If I keep my bank statements, I have a record of every utility bill paid. My bank has scans of my cancelled checks online. Receipts are useless past the return date (and the heat-printed ones fade entirely after a few months, anyway). Sure, I could scan it all in, but… why? When was the last time you needed a receipt (except for major purchases, which have their own folder) that was more than a year old? Are you really going to return that box of cereal you bought after seven months? Can you get a refund on a restaurant meal after eight months? Do I really want to look back and see how much money I’ve wasted on yarn? Or corsets? I can’t change any of that, so what’s the point?
That may seem unrelated, but clutter is clutter – paper bills, computer files, and even mental clutter (oh, yes, it sounds so psycho-babble/new age, but it is true). Whether it’s my old gas bills or a tweet from 2009 (was I on Twitter in 2009? Who knows…) I just don’t need it hanging around, I guess.
And when, honestly, will I ever need to re-read some stupid ‘ugh today sucks’* post from two years ago?
I don’t know – it’s really hard to put into words why I dislike this so much. Why I don’t want it out there in that format. It might be more they way they are marketing it (‘story of your life’) as opposed to what it truly is (another way to view information that’s always been there, though it used to be very hard and time-consuming to scroll back very far).
* So far in my delete-a-thon I’ve come across two such posts, one that said something along the lines of ‘Today can roll around in broken glass shards and dive into a pool of lemon juice’ and ‘Today can give itself a thousand paper cuts and take a swim in the Dead Sea’. Posted several months apart, which just shows you how unoriginal and predictable I am.