Why I am Not on Facebook this Lent

This is to make clear why I am taking a break (indeed already have been taking a break) from Facebook this Lent. I have decided for my mental and spiritual well being this Lent to give up Facebook. I have for the last month or so not been on Facebook very much at all and I intend to cut out the remaining bit for the entirety of Lent. No I am not going to be looking for othe Social Media at this time. I am on a old fashioned BB Forum and will remain there but otherwise I will be absent

My main reason for this is self care. In the wake of the coming of the Trump administration I started listening to the friends on Facebook in America and I became overwhelmed with the news that they were posting. I did not get care fatigue, I just could not cope. I was like a sponge soaking up the pain and outrage they were going through. I was not helping them, and I was making myself ill. I needed to limit my contact with news. I am doing so and part of that is not being on Facebook

At the same time, I am asking myself hard questions about the nature of the World we live in and how I live in that world. I am needing space to think and to discern. This is very Lenten, I know. The way Facebook aims to grab ones attention and hold it is not conducive to this. I need time out of the shallow cluttered streams that are social media. I am taking Lent to do this. My hope is that during Lent I will be able to post a series of thoughts on this blog as I make progress a long the way. This is only part of a much bigger discernment process.

I am therefore planning on not being on Facebook at all during Lent. At Easter I will decide whether I am coming back to Facebook or whether I am leaving altogether and therefore will be deleting my account.