Why I’m Not on Social Media

I used to be on Facebook, and encouraged people to follow me. I have a few YouTube videos as well. (There’s one on how to do The Healing Code, by the way, but the better quality one is here. YouTube won’t let you replace videos and keep your stats.)

Astute readers of my Healing Heart Issues Digest newsletter who have followed me for a while (there are many of you—thanks!) may have noticed that I no longer include links to my social media pages.

I still have an account on Facebook, and a few on X (formerly Twitter), but I never post. I only keep the FB account so that I can participate in private groups for which I have paid for access. (They’re supposed to be private, but . . .)

There are several reasons for my avoidance of social media. I’m going to go beyond the stuff everyone talks about—how it’s easy to get depressed when you see all these people posting all these wonderful things about their lives, for instance—and tell you about some of the reasons why I personally choose not to participate much at all in this milieu.

Perhaps it will help you rethink, or confirm, your own social media choices. (I’d love to hear your perspectives, too!)

1.) It’s a time waste. You go on it to check “one thing” and before you know it, 30 or 60 minutes or more have flown by. I only check certain groups and set a strict limit on myself (or try to), and I only check a few times a week. (If you’ve ever tried to message me through FB, now you know why I probably never answered. It’s just not on my radar much.)

2.) I don’t want to be manipulated. There’s so much research out there about how damaging SM can be to one’s mental health. It’s all about whether you can master it (which I believe I am doing), or if it masters you (and there are people working day and night to try to master you). I call SM (and all technology) “goovil” and you can read my further thoughts about it here.

3.) I had a bad experience early on, and a few times since, with Facebook randomly closing my account. No reason. Annoyed, I just closed my account altogether. Much later, I decided to open a new one. Lo and behold, my old one also popped up! I had two accounts for a while, and it caused confusion.

4.) Speaking of confusion, Facebook had become more confusing and overstimulating to my sensitive nervous system. They changed some things and I never felt like taking the time to figure out business pages, Meta, the differences. And it became so focused on ads, so cluttered.

Then there are the algorithms. Those who are on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc. seem to get stressed out by trying to “get eyeballs.” I am in the energy of “fixing and nixing,” so “nixing” any complicated technology is definitely a no-brainer.

5.) Bad actors and security issues. A friend of mine, Dr. Natali Edmonds, has an excellent business helping caregivers for people with dementia, including a private Facebook group for “dementia careblazers.”

She recently discovered her own father was scammed through what he thought was her advice.

REAL Dementia Careblazers Facebook page

He had bought a “memory supplement” he said she recommended on her Facebook page. Someone had duplicated her Facebook group page, and was messaging people about supplements (expensive supplements) to boost memory. Her father bought the product. Dr. Natali would never do such a thing, and was livid about what happened.

Unfortunately, there are bad actors out there on the Internet who do all sorts of nefarious things to scam people. I don’t want to fall prey to them, and I don’t want my followers to fall prey to any of them, either. I stick with secure email, and my email list is private, NEVER shared with any other entity.

If I start an online community, it will be one I pay for.

There are all kinds of security issues as well. You’ve probably read about all the lawsuits.

In fact, the day I’m writing this, I got a notification of a payment from a class action suit against Facebook for using my picture unlawfully. This third and final payment was a whopping $7.20. It was almost two years ago that I filed my claim. (Pam Popper says the pace at which litigation moves through the courts is “like watching paint dry.” I guess so.)

By the way, it’s not just the social media platforms that are not so trustworthy. Zoom has been plagued by security issues, too.

I use a different video platform from Zoom, because I had issues with Zoom and my account there became inaccessible. (They kept telling me to “contact my administrator” to “update my Zoom.” I AM the administrator but somehow could not get access.)

The video platform I use I think is BETTER than Zoom, and is more private. (If you are seeking a Zoom alternative that’s less expensive, is just as easy to use, and has great features, contact me for details.)

6.) Surveillance and monitoring. Then there are all the concerns about surveillance, and the violations of free speech. We saw this multiple times all through the COVID debacle. I had my account shut down a time or two. I hadn’t even posted anything, let alone something that would have gotten me shut down. Yet I got a notification, and at first it wasn’t clear whether that was itself a scam.

Who wants to sort through all this nonsense? Not me!

Also, I  just read a news story about how Big Tech companies are harvesting private health care information. So much for HPPA laws!

7.) Social anxiety. I’m not really sure how to articulate this. But I feel I’ve lost friends (I mean, real friends, some of them I’d been face-to-face friends with for years), because I wasn’t following them on Facebook and keeping up with the minutiae of their lives.

I’m sad about that. If I call them, and it becomes clear I haven’t kept up with everything that’s been going on, I feel like they don’t want to talk to me. What’s with that?

I’m not a Luddite (someone who opposes all new technology or new ways of doing things), really I’m not. I deal with technology all the time and embrace what serves me. I have to for my business, since it’s online. But again, technology is “goovil”–good if you master it, evil if it masters you.

8.) It’s a distraction from my Divine Design. I know what God wants me to do. I have a hard enough time as it is fending off distractions. All of the above add up to a huge source of distraction from my calling.

This post is long enough, so I’ll save the whole issue of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for another time. Suffice it to say now that all my emails, blog posts, web copy are written entirely by me, and always will be.

A machine can’t add heart and soul, and that’s what I strive to do in every communication with you, my treasured readers. That is a big part of my Divine Design.

No machine can put heart and soul into communications. That is my focus.

And if you’re longing to realize a sense of purpose and clarity about your unique Divine Design, check out my web page at http://alignwithyourdivinedesign.com and fill out a Clarity Questionnaire. Just filling out the questionnaire and sending it back will move you along on your unique path.