It's amazing that Mark Zuckerberg has managed to make so much money off all of us pretending to keep in touch with our friends. I realised about a month ago that although I still have an account there, for the ostensible reason that it feels like an important way to stay connected, I am not really getting much out of it, because I don't use it that much. I crosspost photos I take on my run three times a week via Instagram, and occasionally I comment on something. And I've posted a few of my latest blog posts there, since for some people, who I know would appreciate them, Facebook is the last point of contact I have since I deleted my Twitter account.
I can't be the only one who feels that passively checking Facebook is a habit which gets in the way of friendship. By making me feel as if I'm doing something social, it allows me be quite lazy about doing the actual work of staying in touch with people, but provides a kind of phantom awareness that the people are there.
I do really appreciate Samuel Delany's posts.