https://quillette.com/2020/01/04/build-y...ual-oasis/

Engineer/activist/writer decides to shut down. Interesting read. The guy realized a bunch of people are going nuts.

"Two years ago I started an experiment I would like to recommend to you. At the urging of my best friend, concerned not just about my happiness but my mental health, I went dark. Perhaps if enough people give this a try it could help pull our troubled culture out of its downward spiral.

What do I mean by going dark? I’ve enjoyed a four-decade long career as an engineer, entrepreneur, and venture capital investor working with many others to help build the digital world in which we now live. As the years passed I became more of an “activist,” devoting increasing amounts of time, money, and attention to various issues and causes impacting the body politic. For 25 years I wrote regular opinion columns for publications like Network Computing and Communications Week, back in the pre-web days, transitioning to Forbes.com, the Huffington Post, RealClear Markets, the Daily Caller, and the Foundation for Economic Education in the digital age. As my tech career began winding down I spent half a dozen years as a fellow at a Washington DC policy think tank, three as a radio show host on Bloomberg Radio where I had the pleasure of interviewing Claire Lehmann when Quillette was just a gleam in her eye, a couple of years as a roving lecturer on college campuses, all seasoned with a smattering of talking head appearances on TV. I had also been deeply engaged in social media since the phenomenon first emerged.

Then in January of 2018 I abruptly shut it all down, because my best friend was right. First I deleted my Facebook and Twitter accounts, agents of digital dysphoria that were turning me and countless others into crazy people. But I didn’t stop there. I cancelled all my newspaper and periodical subscriptions, including the Wall Street Journal, a once but no longer trusted news source I had read every morning for more than 30 years. Then I gave up writing opinion columns. I stopped listening to NPR. I deleted all the browser bookmarks I had accumulated for news and commentary sites that kept me “informed,” including inflammatory volcanoes of vituperation like Zero Hedge. Banishing the loathsome CNN/Fox two-headed beast was not an issue because I stopped watching TV back in the 1980s when Diane left Cheers. I did everything I could to decouple from the 24-hour news cycle, including relegating directly to the trash all of the “Have you seen this outrage? Pass it on!” emails that used to fill my inbox. I unsubscribed from all the echo chambers I’d come to frequent. I did all of this cold turkey over the space of a few days....

Give going dark a try. I bet it does the same for you. Live your own life, worry about your own problems, and let others worry about theirs. Find joy connecting with real friends, not angst watching hordes of digital simulacra doing St. Vitus’s dance to the tune of a dysfunctional and desperate media industry in its death throws. If you have a mind to, build your own personal intellectual oasis populated with whomever you choose. And rest assured that despite being told otherwise you will cease being part of the problem to the extent that you stop believing you must be part of every solution."

For a lot of people, going dark is not an option. We're in an era where many employers check your social media history. People who don't use social media risk being labelled as Luddites.

I'm in a profession where it is easy to "go dark." But I still have a facebook account, just in case. I guess I do the next best thing: I ignore it. I don't have the facebook app, and I only check it once a month or so to keep the account active.

And of course I spend way too much time here, which is the complete opposite of "going dark."

(01-13-2020 04:58 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  For a lot of people, going dark is not an option. We're in an era where many employers check your social media history. People who don't use social media risk being labelled as Luddites.

I'm in a profession where it is easy to "go dark." But I still have a facebook account, just in case. I guess I do the next best thing: I ignore it. I don't have the facebook app, and I only check it once a month or so to keep the account active.

And of course I spend way too much time here, which is the complete opposite of "going dark."

I thought about being late to LinkedIn. But then I figured it was better to have no LinkedIn than have one with only a handful of connections.

(01-05-2020 10:35 AM)bullet Wrote:  https://quillette.com/2020/01/04/build-y...ual-oasis/

Engineer/activist/writer decides to shut down. Interesting read. The guy realized a bunch of people are going nuts.

"Two years ago I started an experiment I would like to recommend to you. At the urging of my best friend, concerned not just about my happiness but my mental health, I went dark. Perhaps if enough people give this a try it could help pull our troubled culture out of its downward spiral.

What do I mean by going dark? I’ve enjoyed a four-decade long career as an engineer, entrepreneur, and venture capital investor working with many others to help build the digital world in which we now live. As the years passed I became more of an “activist,” devoting increasing amounts of time, money, and attention to various issues and causes impacting the body politic. For 25 years I wrote regular opinion columns for publications like Network Computing and Communications Week, back in the pre-web days, transitioning to Forbes.com, the Huffington Post, RealClear Markets, the Daily Caller, and the Foundation for Economic Education in the digital age. As my tech career began winding down I spent half a dozen years as a fellow at a Washington DC policy think tank, three as a radio show host on Bloomberg Radio where I had the pleasure of interviewing Claire Lehmann when Quillette was just a gleam in her eye, a couple of years as a roving lecturer on college campuses, all seasoned with a smattering of talking head appearances on TV. I had also been deeply engaged in social media since the phenomenon first emerged.

Then in January of 2018 I abruptly shut it all down, because my best friend was right. First I deleted my Facebook and Twitter accounts, agents of digital dysphoria that were turning me and countless others into crazy people. But I didn’t stop there. I cancelled all my newspaper and periodical subscriptions, including the Wall Street Journal, a once but no longer trusted news source I had read every morning for more than 30 years. Then I gave up writing opinion columns. I stopped listening to NPR. I deleted all the browser bookmarks I had accumulated for news and commentary sites that kept me “informed,” including inflammatory volcanoes of vituperation like Zero Hedge. Banishing the loathsome CNN/Fox two-headed beast was not an issue because I stopped watching TV back in the 1980s when Diane left Cheers. I did everything I could to decouple from the 24-hour news cycle, including relegating directly to the trash all of the “Have you seen this outrage? Pass it on!” emails that used to fill my inbox. I unsubscribed from all the echo chambers I’d come to frequent. I did all of this cold turkey over the space of a few days....

Give going dark a try. I bet it does the same for you. Live your own life, worry about your own problems, and let others worry about theirs. Find joy connecting with real friends, not angst watching hordes of digital simulacra doing St. Vitus’s dance to the tune of a dysfunctional and desperate media industry in its death throws. If you have a mind to, build your own personal intellectual oasis populated with whomever you choose. And rest assured that despite being told otherwise you will cease being part of the problem to the extent that you stop believing you must be part of every solution."

-I agree with the concept. Everything in your post is from the linked article. My response and thoughts would be based on what you are going through.

(01-13-2020 05:23 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 04:58 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  For a lot of people, going dark is not an option. We're in an era where many employers check your social media history. People who don't use social media risk being labelled as Luddites.

I'm in a profession where it is easy to "go dark." But I still have a facebook account, just in case. I guess I do the next best thing: I ignore it. I don't have the facebook app, and I only check it once a month or so to keep the account active.

And of course I spend way too much time here, which is the complete opposite of "going dark."

I thought about being late to LinkedIn. But then I figured it was better to have no LinkedIn than have one with only a handful of connections.

I am an INTP and do not interact will with humans, It is quality not quantity. My LinkedIn account is a kleptic mix of people I worked with from a GSA in both finance and IT, personal friends,, and people I met from community gardens when I lived in DC. Do not be afraid to be yourself.

(01-13-2020 04:58 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  For a lot of people, going dark is not an option. We're in an era where many employers check your social media history. People who don't use social media risk being labelled as Luddites.

I'm in a profession where it is easy to "go dark." But I still have a facebook account, just in case. I guess I do the next best thing: I ignore it. I don't have the facebook app, and I only check it once a month or so to keep the account active.

And of course I spend way too much time here, which is the complete opposite of "going dark."

I am retired so I only care about what I post on social media regarding my integrity.

I love love facebook. I check it every day on my PC. Reminds me of birthdays and has enabled my to connect to family around the world. many friends and family I lost contact with years ago prior to internet.

I do understand being cautions when still employed today.

i use to spend too much time here, but left about 4 years ago. Here does not appear on social media ( that is an assumption). So is easier to speak your feelings.

I loath Facebook but it is the only connection I have with many of my cousins and friends from long ago I'm interested in keeping in touch with without going beyond superficial interaction.

I find myself pointing out more often than I care for that something posted is utter bull****. The ability to discern truth and reality is all but dead. Who cares if it is real, I want it to be real because it angers me and it reinforces what I believe.

Here in Arkansas GOP leaning horse feces leads the way but that is just sample size. I know far more people who are lifetime Republicans, I suspect in California or New York, the numbers would flip because I do see complete BS liberal stuff posted by the few admitted liberals I know.

Fiscal conservatism online appears to be dead.
Small government conservatism has to be remodeled into economic libertarianism except if a company wants money to pick Podunk as it's new location over Bugtussle.
A freaking scary craving for a big government that decimates the First Amendment and does peep into bedrooms.
I see people who think big pharma hides the cure for cancer which also might be bleach or pot. They post how they want government to set the price of insulin yet blow a gasket if someone wants to socialize medicine despite already advocating for socializing medicine.

I know my examples lean right wing but I live in Arkansas with friends in Arkansas. Just don't get many flip side liberal insanity posts though I am confident they exist, the algorithm just doesn't send them to me.

I just made the call today to deactivate my Facebook and Twitter accounts. They are being used to perpetuate the hate in this country and I'm tired of being told how I should think and having to worry about folks that I thought were my friends potentially trying to get me or my family fired from jobs are harmed in any way.

Feels downright liberating.

(01-13-2020 04:58 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  For a lot of people, going dark is not an option. We're in an era where many employers check your social media history. People who don't use social media risk being labelled as Luddites.

I'm in a profession where it is easy to "go dark." But I still have a facebook account, just in case. I guess I do the next best thing: I ignore it. I don't have the facebook app, and I only check it once a month or so to keep the account active.

And of course I spend way too much time here, which is the complete opposite of "going dark."

Some of the most productive and creative people I know are Luddites. They don't waste time on social media, don't have to have likes for what they do because they are more mature than the perpetual third graders who want approval because they colored within the lines, and because they don't let the volume of opinion dissuade them.

This is my only social media outlet and I post on only 2 sports boards, though a couple of trolls use my handle elsewhere because I banned them here.

The Hive mind will only lead to enslavement, it is after all what worker bees are and they are compelled to follow the queen.

It is simply anathema to everything I think and do. These boards have merely filled my time between my retirement and my wife's.

I once shared a hobby and time with the CEO of a major global financial institution. I did some foundation work for 2 different universities in my time, both as an adjunct, and knew he gave oodles to a local college. While we were engaged in examining specimens for our hobby I asked him if his corporation attracted top students from the college he heavily supported. His reply stunned me.

"No. We don't want the top students. We hire C students because they aren't clever enough to steal without getting caught."

There you have our whole damned new world society in a frigging nutshell. The bright are passed over for the average so control can be maintained and so there is nobody present in the workplace that thinks for themselves.

I took a part time job when I first retired because I was bored. I walked by the main machine in the production room and stopped the engineer to inform him that it didn't sound right and to ask him if it had been greased. He asked me if it even needed greasing. I said yes, that it had been made in the early 70's and that the grease nipples were underneath the carousel and needed monthly attention. He asked if I was rated as an engineer. I said no but I had operated that kind of equipment before and maintained it at a family sawmill. Though this was not a sawmill he dismissed my warning. He had been on the job for 5 months and didn't know the equipment needed greasing. That night the bearings seized the machine flew apart thankfully not hurting employees and the arrogant ass was dismissed within the month for failure to read the manuals on the equipment for which he had oversight. Needless to say far more was lost on production.

The company hiring policy however doesn't stress experience. It stressed its social policies and only required certifications. The also lost 2 forklift operators who tore up the facility because they had no experience but a certification.

They all stayed on the company computer doing CBE's and none of them knew a damn thing about their jobs.

(06-03-2020 04:40 PM)49RFootballNow Wrote:  I just made the call today to deactivate my Facebook and Twitter accounts. They are being used to perpetuate the hate in this country and I'm tired of being told how I should think and having to worry about folks that I thought were my friends potentially trying to get me or my family fired from jobs are harmed in any way.

Feels downright liberating.

as I posted somewhere in the political forum the other day, I have pulled back posting on pretty much everything but this site. I keep my facebook and instagram because I have a toddler and my family would kill me if I didn't keep them updated sometimes...but the nonsense has gotten overwhelming. I have been muting/unfollowing people at a massive rate over the last 3 months, and it makes it much easier to check social media when it is only the people you truly care about showing up in your feed.