Notifications

Going to pop away from the grid for another few days. Meant to do Book Notes yesterday but became distracted and just didn’t get to it. Funny, since I’ve been reading actual books. And also cleaning the house, which surely deserves to be documented here. But we’re going away for the week to sit in a place with no internet, and I was drug away by all the packing and children shrieking about needing to find socks and swimsuits–the weather could really go either way. Then we had to argue about the car and how much stuff we can or cannot cram in. Then I had to do all the laundry and clean. Then I had to collapse into bed. And so there you are, no Book Notes. Also, you’ll be sad to know, I have a very decent Sunday post pinging around in the back of my mind–had it all worked out and in order somewhere in there–but didn’t wake up in time to actually write it. So I’ll work on it up this week, which will be better anyway. But we did do a podcast which is timed to go up tomorrow.

The grand new amendment of life that definitely contributed to me totally forgetting to blog yesterday was deleting facebook and twitter from my phone. I had already turned off all my notifications, which seemed to produce rage on the part of both those institutions. The minute I turned off the notifications they started a song and dance to get me to turn them back on again. Which made me mad enough to delete them from my phone. And then to put down my tablet in a room and shut the door and go away so that it would be hard to get back to it–take real thought and energy if you will.

Its not the people on social media who constantly irritate me, it’s the platforms themselves inserting themselves into my line of sight and nakedly appealing to my cloying need for attention and affirmation. If Facebook would be just a leeetle more subtle I wouldn’t be constantly angry with them. And Twitter seems to be trying to catch up. But don’t worry, I didn’t get rid of them altogether. I’ve just sent them into a corner. Unfortunately, instead of that producing an amendment of behavior, it will probably send them into greater paroxysms of hysteria. Poor dears. They should go find a good therapist. Meanwhile, I get to have my own soul back.

Hope you have a lovely week!