What it’s doing outside in the Tries: We’re headed into a week of Sunny to Mostly Sunny to Partly Sunny, with highs in the high 70s to low 80s and lows in the mid to low 40s. Sammy is happy. Auntie Lenora is Happy, and the chairs on the front are getting used 😉
Facebook:
After a long hiatus from Facebook, I have returned to the roiling waters thereof.
I learned a friend had died, and another is dying. I learned another friend had a baby. Now, all these friends had my email, and at one time we corresponded, but life happens, and it’s so much easier to just put it up on Facebook and not worry about people getting the news. Unless, of course, they aren’t on Facebook.
My conservative friend is still posting without fact checking, but not as much. And our ex-president is still banned from joining in the fun.
What I really like about Facebook is it’s a way to keep in touch during natural disasters. Couldn’t make calls or get emails through to my cousin after a tornado ripped through his town, but he could get onto Facebook and let all know he and his were OK in OK, that the tornado missed them.
The other things I like about Facebook are the mini-wisdoms that pop up in memes. The humor is always appreciated, and sometimes the wisdoms are spot-on. Like one that I posted five years ago, before I logged off, it came up, and I’ve shared it again, because it makes so much sense.
Facebook is a tool, not a life. Use accordingly. It’s also huge time-sink if you want it to be. I do get some irritated at the ads.
The other day I was looking for some information on a disease and immediately, I started getting ads on how to cure that disease, live with that disease, join various support groups for that disease. That makes me a little uneasy. My search engine is Duck Duck Go, but I’ve noticed I have to go in every so often and re-set it. Somehow, Google finds a way to get back in my computer. Not being all that computer savvy, I think it’s possibly tied into Facebook. But, Who only knows and he’s not telling.
So, for a while, I’m back on Facebook. I do admit, I don’t miss the lack of political stuff, the lies, the misinformation. If it gets bad again, I’ll sign off again. Life is too short to spend it hating and lying, let alone reading it every day.
Photos of the Week:
Sunset over Rattlesnake Mountain and Columbia River
Visited a friend’s place the other day, and his holly tree is in bloom. I’ve never seen the flowers on a holly tree. They are tiny, maybe ¼” across. And little green berries that will, I am sure, turn red at some point.
Entertainment:
Facebook. What else can I say?
Books: For reviews of finished books go to Rainy Day Reads
Finished Blood Brother – Sister Death by Bill Ransom. Very entertaining, well written, and not your standard, cliché, vampire book. Highly recommend it.
Also finished Intention Tremor: A Hybrid Collection by Tamara Kaye Sellman. This is a marvelous read, not a ‘woe is me’ kind of book. And a fantastic insight into what it’s like having and living with MS. Read it!
Education:
Does Facebook count??
Quote of the Week comes from Facebook (see above): “Make a list of things that make you happy. Make a list of things you do every day. Compare the lists. Adjust Accordingly.”
And now, Auntie Lenora and Sammy Brave Dog are off to make those lists, and adjust accordingly!
Lovely post. I spend very little time on FB because it is so easy to start scrolling and get lost for an hour. Still, it has a lot of good uses.
Thank you for the kind words. Yeah, it’s a real time sink. I try not to spend tooooo much time on it, just check in once in a while….
I think you’ll find that Google runs your data through their own processing that parallels that of Facebook, so it’s no surprise that you are deemed to be of interest to many of the same advertisers, and get a double dose of the same ads. In the same way, your news and politics preferences are taken into account, modifying both the ad and non-ad content that you are served accordingly — just as whatever seems interesting of your page’s content is winnowed before serving to others.
Personally, I avoid Facebook (when I found that my county and state’s health departments’ request for vaccine data was through a form that set me up with a Facebook page, I straightaway deleted it). I’m less strict with Google — I sometimes use the search engine when my usual one is stumped, and more often I use their maps, but they’re both pretty identical when it comes to the consequences for the Internet consumer. Both are dedicated to one thing, making money for their investors no matter what. That often means promoting anger and social division, with a few honorable exceptions, like trying to stave off the overthrow of the U.S. government.
OMG, had I been ‘forced’ into a FB page, I would have declared myself unable to access their website! I only got back on because it’s the ONLY way I can access some poetry stuff I’m interested in. 😉
So similar to my, now occasional, use of FB. Despite the kid’s preference for TXT SMS, I Idiscovered 2 deaths and one engagement.
Like me, Do you also avoid Twitter and Instagram?
I discovered, quite by accident, that I still have a Twitter account a while back. I follow some people, but don’t post. I don’t know if anyone follows me at all. What’s Instagram?