Alternative to Social Media

Lowering my blood pressure

On Monday, I went to see my doctor. My blood pressure is still too high. While I suppose that’s not surprising, since most of my ancestors died of heart disease, it continues to be alarming. Monday was a cold, albeit, gorgeous day. As my doc was listening to my heart, I looked out the window and saw bluebirds flying joyfully in the bushes. Amazing - I haven’t seen too many bluebirds in my life. My mother’s totem was a bluebird.

That night in the darkness, Monty (my beloved Corgi) and I took our last walk of the day. The sky was crystal clear and was lit up by the full moon. It was spectacularly awe-inspiring. Again, Mother was talking to me. (Moon=Mother and since I was born on a full moon, I always think about Mom, when there’s a full moon.)

Twice in one day. What was my mother trying to tell me?

My mother was this larger than life person — she was bold, beautiful, brilliant, honest, loyal, kind, proper, and annoyingly optimistic. She always looked forward and would energize every room, into which she walked. She moved effortlessly and graciously among men, women and children. She knew how to make people feel important. When she died prematurely and unexpectantly at age 88, there was standing room only at her funeral.

My mother was a curious person, with lots of interests. But her passion was politics. She loved the GOP and was a devoted supporter as well as precinct captain. She was also a moderate, pro-choice Republican - an extinct species, today, I suppose. CHARACTER MATTERED to her - actually it was everything to her. My sibs and I agree that, regardless of her blind devotion to the GOP, she would be a “Liz Cheney type” and would never have voted for the Depraved Grifter, who will be living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue next week.

I’ve come to realize, that monitoring the utter incompetency and corruption of our soon to be Felon-In-Chief tends to elevate my blood pressure. Reading rage pages and seeing his pathological lying plastered across Facebook definitely elevates the numbers. I think Mark Zukerberg’s recent decision to let the lies proliferate on Meta’s platforms was the end of the line for me.

“Four years ago, Facebook (now Meta) suspended Trump indefinitely because he used those platforms to incite the mob at the Capitol. The suspension was lifted two years later. And now, Mark Zuckerberg, continuing his act of complete supplication to Trump, is hosting an inaugural ball for the soon-to-be president, and is set to attend the inauguration itself, while seated next to his fellow tech giants. When Zuck said he wanted to ‘move fast and break things,’ we didn’t think he meant democracy.” The Bulwark

I deleted one of my Facebook accounts yesterday. As of inauguration day on January 20th, I am leaving Facebook forever. It’s been entertaining, but…

I need to think about my health.

I decided, that this was what Mother was trying to tell me. Be joyful. Have fun. Let go of this social media nonsense; focus on positivity and kindness and connect with real people — not with so-called friends.

Maybe I’m reading more into it than I should, but I do know that I’m tuning out the deeds/words of the Felon-In-Chief — at least, for now. Clearly, Mother’s beloved GOP has turned into a bunch of Useful (useless) Idiots, so there’s not much we can do at this point other than hold on for the ride and pray that the United States makes it through the next few years. God help us, if we experience another global pandemic with RFKjr in charge of our health care system.

For the last four years, I’ve been holding my breath and praying that this country would finally recognize the absurdity and destructiveness of 45/47 — and get past this dangerous moron. Apparently not. I’ll continue to work on election reform issues, but that’s about it. I’m not going to obsess with podcasts and newsletters. I can’t.

I need to breathe again.

I will miss seeing the pictures of friend’s families and hearing about their adventures, but it’s time to say goodbye to toxic social media. So dear friends — you have my email and phone number. I will always welcome your news in those formats. I will miss hearing about your adventures as they happen, but the time has come to move on.

I’ll share my thoughts from time to time on this Substack account…. probably continue my “thought of the day,” since I get pleasure out of seeing other people’s words. You can subscribe or not subscribe — if I have no followers, so be it. I just need to get out of the fray and focus on kindness.

It’s all about “staying alive in ‘25.”

Good bye Meta.