Seriously thinking of leaving both this site and Facebook ..

The place to discuss anything that isn't football or LUFC
Deleted User 728

Seriously thinking of leaving both this site and Facebook ..

Post by Deleted User 728 »

.. because I don't like how binary I have become.
I'm much less tolerant than I used to be and sometimes I find myself raging about stuff that wouldn't affect me if I wasn't online.

In the last two or three years, I've unfriended plenty of people on Facebook over Brexit and politics in general and now I'm doing the same thing over BLM.

In here, I've found myself biting my lip - believe it or not - more often of late, generally choosing not to post much at all at the moment following my self-enforced exile for a couple of weeks.


I am generally a very confident individual and I'm really positive compared to most people : definitely an extrovert optimist.
When online, I find myself being aggressive rather than assertive and that's not a trait I like seeing in myself.
If I analyse my behaviour over the last decade, I think social media has played a massive part in shaping my online persona and probably is also a fair influence on who I am socially too.

I'm not looking for moral support or an argument in starting this thread; I just wondered if anyone else felt the same.
User avatar
SiMamu
LUFCTALK Moderator
Posts: 10996
Joined: 27 Mar 2012, 14:07

Re: Seriously thinking of leaving both this site and Faceboo

Post by SiMamu »

I feel like the rise of social media has made people a lot more binary too. Opinions are becoming more grounded in being controversial, because that gains more attention and response; whether it's good or bad - look at the rise of Katie Hopkins as a prime example. I'm fairly sure that half of her opinions are deliberately exaggerated for the sake of her online persona, and that she has therefore had to carry it out into her public one too.

Social media might also help to rot your optimism, because you're exposed to more of the world and the opinions of its people. You see kinds of people you might never come into contact with in person, and you see sides to people you know that don't exist outside of communicating online. It has kind of created a new cult of personality, that makes the philosophies and principles being endorsed by far less significant (and that can be evidenced in the media desecration of a genuinely good man, in Jeremy Corbyn, who wasn't made for this kind of sniping). It's a furthering of the wrong kind of individualism that can linked to modern Capitalism. Individualism is about being able trounce over people, with selfish recklessness; rather than being founded in the personal creativities that stimulate our mind, and that influence what we can offer to the world, through our creations.

I think that the main thing I've realised is that sometimes it's just not worth replying to people who exhaust you, with their hyperbolic views.
"A man with new ideas is a madman. Until his ideas triumph."
Deleted User 728

Re: Seriously thinking of leaving both this site and Faceboo

Post by Deleted User 728 »

Agree with all that, Si, but the thing that nags at me is that if I just unfriend on the socials and ignore or don't engage with certain people in here I'll either be burying my head in the sand or missing out on something stimulating that might be worth knowing.
Plus, I'm not a fan of passive aggressive behaviour - I find it deplorable IRL and just as bad in here. I'd rather sort things out directly, which is obviously why I can come across as aggressive myself. Better that than never acknowledging someone else's opinions, I would say ..
User avatar
NottinghamWhite
LUFCTALK Admin
Posts: 31307
Joined: 11 Nov 2009, 10:10

Re: Seriously thinking of leaving both this site and Faceboo

Post by NottinghamWhite »

I don’t go on any Leeds United Facebook pages as above all else I find the use of the English language appalling & only this morning was thinking about getting rid of my Twitter account as I find myself getting angrier each time I log on. The current situation isn’t doing that much to help people’s behaviour of late. We’ve seen more problems on here in the last few weeks than all the other times I’ve been a Mod on here ( roughly 10 years )
Rigger you must do what’s best for you not for others I for one would miss your posts & other input on here that others don’t know about.

MOT
Winner of the Europa League
DominanceUK
Arthur Fairclough's milliner
Posts: 2368
Joined: 11 Aug 2014, 16:33

Re: Seriously thinking of leaving both this site and Faceboo

Post by DominanceUK »

Perhaps you should just take a step back from everything you are associated to online, Rigz? Personally, I hate social media. This is the only site I dedicate my time to because of people such as yourself and others and the love we have for Leeds Utd.
User avatar
Another Northern Soul
LUFCTALK Moderator
Posts: 7537
Joined: 01 Nov 2015, 09:55

Re: Seriously thinking of leaving both this site and Faceboo

Post by Another Northern Soul »

If someone or something is bugging me then I put them on 'snooze', but stuff leaving somewhere because of a minority of big mouth WUMs.

I don't see me leaving Facebook or this forum for good, I just become quieter. Facebook is definitely less of a place for discussion with me but life has been so number 2s in the last year or two for people I care about who went on there, I kept a low profile really. There are people on there who would be solidly in my corner in times of adversity but their politics are bloody miles away from mine. I just don't bother even responding to political comments most of the time - one of them was half defending Cummings the other week - but if I ever felt like it was ME spoiling a forum for others then I'd happily leave.
User avatar
Barlow Boy
LUFCTALK Moderator
Posts: 11928
Joined: 22 Jan 2012, 19:28
Location: Barlow, obviously.

Re: Seriously thinking of leaving both this site and Faceboo

Post by Barlow Boy »

I don’t bother with Facebook, I can get through the day without knowing what folk are having for their tea, who’s birthday it is and how much dog muck has been left on the pavement in a certain area.
When you retire, you switch bosses - from the one that hired you, to the one that married you.
User avatar
NottinghamWhite
LUFCTALK Admin
Posts: 31307
Joined: 11 Nov 2009, 10:10

Re: Seriously thinking of leaving both this site and Faceboo

Post by NottinghamWhite »

What a lot of people tend to forget is that Mods do so much for the site often unseen & in their spare time. It does seem to me that it’s made out to be that the Mods are some kind of clique & all big mates. Well that isn’t the case I’ve met Sheepy & Bogdan who own the site & ANS & BB. It isn’t us against you & no Mod can ban someone without a majority decision to do so. Any decision made by the Mod team is to enhance the enjoyment members get from the site not to pick on individual posters.
Winner of the Europa League
User avatar
Selby White
LUFCTALK Moderator
Posts: 17206
Joined: 25 Mar 2012, 11:32

Re: Seriously thinking of leaving both this site and Faceboo

Post by Selby White »

Not much to add to what others have said only you knows what is right.
However would advise against snap decisions based on the present. Sometimes step away and look at the whole picture from the outside is a good idea.

Think everyone is going through sticky times and tolerance levels are low.
I'm certain the majority would miss you if you do call it a day.
Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.
Deleted User 728

Re: Seriously thinking of leaving both this site and Faceboo

Post by Deleted User 728 »

Thanks for the comments : some much appreciated advice from all of you there.
I think maybe you're right about stepping back or just not logging on and/or commenting so much ..

It's nothing to do with lockdown either, btw - I've been working as normal throughout - unless you take it that everybody's views are getting more binary since Brexit and are now amplified through the odd prism of lockdown.
Post Reply