While (temporarily) not there on FB

I can say this, better than most
the social network is truly one of lies.
There's no more to it,
whatever the gadgets may think,
I am better lonely, all alone
than being lonely in a crowd.

I am taking one of my occasional (read detox) breaks from Facebook, and I must say it feels good, even therapeutic by degrees to not be assailed by a thousand alerts, updates, angst(s) and outrages.

I do miss checking out the bird photos that various (Facebook) friends post and the occasional poem and a lot of valuable (read thought-provoking and insightful) links to various topics of interest -- such as the environment, Monsanto, saving water, doing away with plastics, etc but hey I could use this quiet, this loneliness and this relatively low-tech mind-space for a bit, thank you so much.

And NO, I am not blaming Facebook at all. Blaming Facebook for my addiction to it (and the resultant time wastage) is like blaming advertising for human greed or like blaming bars for alcoholism and its not like that at all.

Honestly, Facebook is a big help to me in a number of ways and as with most of us, it has taken over my contact list / address book / whatever-you-call-it in a way that I could never have foreseen. And oh, yes I will be the first one to say that it gets you noticed as well and gets you renown / praise / fame (you can call it "likes" if want, I am sure a lot of time there is much more than a grudging like when someone clicks that button -- everyone doesn't see the point in being expressive).

But still...as someone told me long, long back (she was so "ancient" that she had to be helped to check her e-mail, I was already hooked into the fun, and harmless flirting of chat rooms and online "time-wasting") maybe everybody online is lonely. Add to that, that almost everyone hooked onto a gadget is lonely as well. And that, everyone leading an urbane, rushed, high-on-caffeine (or whatever else) metropolitan life is lonely as well.

So, why not be alone and away from the lies of the social network?

At least for a bit?

I am liking it!