I was actually an early adopter of what is now called social media. My involvement stretches back to the 1980s, immediately pre Internet. My employer, a major airline, sponsored access to Compuserve, in order to facilitate communication with its mobile workforce of pilots and flight attendants. Through that dial up at home access, I participated in Compuserve Forums, text based discussion groups formed and organized by users to facilitate enthusiasts talking. There I formed my first online persona. I almost entirely "lurked" (read without posting) but I was quite attached to the group discussion and for a while didn't go a day without signing on. It happened there was a real life gathering of my group I could attend. I opted to lurk in real life too, showing up but lingering at the fringes of the group, trying to link faces with the folks I thought I had gotten to know. It's worthy of note that none of those people had any connection to my "real" life, neither personal life nor work life.
There is a big discussion going on about the role of social media in social life. Some folks consider digital life as separate from physical life, and feel they can behave in ways they never would in real life, both for good and for bad. I never felt that free, but I think it's because I have had decades of trying to preserve a firewall between my work life and my home life. My first job out of grad school catapulted me to a strange society where I loved my job and had essentially nothing in common with anyone at work. I'd be invited to parties, and spend time with the guys talking about work. But when they switched to sports, I'd join the wives, who were discussing children and laundry techniques. It's what was important in their lives, but not in mine. We didn't share values or world views, so I learned not to share what I thought with anyone at work, on non work topics. The first thing I did when I got home home from work was change my clothes, symbolically rejoining my real self. When I first went online, the Compuserve forum I mostly frequented had several of my colleagues, and that motivated me to stay silent. But I was drawn into the voyerism of glimpses of others' lives and opinions. As the Internet grew, so did my fascination with hearing others opinions on things that interest me.
Flash forward to today and Facebook. I have many facebook friends, but not one of them is a work colleague. I've recently started participating much more in facebook groups-clearly a successor to Compuserve Forums. I have wide interests, and have joined several groups. The volume of posts exceeds those of my actual friends, and the Facebook algorithms mean those whose posts I click through to read comments, and especially if I comment on them myself, jump to the top of the feed and I have to go searching for my actual friends (Facebook of course also decides which are my closest friends by my actions). This means if I'm interested, I have to at least "like" stuff, and it's even better to speak up. And I do.
I found a facebook group some time ago formed around my first fitness tracking device. As fitness devices have proliferated, the group has expanded its focus and its membership. It clearly has my soulmates, folks with a similar engagement with technology as a motivation for fitness. Through this group, I have broader engagement with people on the social platforms created by the two biggest tracker families-Fitbit and Jawbone-than I would have if I relied solely on my less tech friendly real life friends for connection. (Jawbone I have one real life friend, Fitbit three, but lots of my Facebook group friends share their info with me, a stranger, and I with them.). We trade tips about how to use our devices, we share articles and links on exercise and devices, and we cheer each other on in activity.
I've written about how Atkins diet has a stigma. I've discovered the flip side- there are Atkins adherents with a religious fervor. I got booted out of an Atkins Facebook group by the mean-girl admin because I dared to suggest the late doctor didn't have the entire revealed wisdom on how to eat. There are sects, too. The successor to the Atkins franchise has kept the major outlines, but emphasizes cooking from scratch and eating vegetables much more than the late doctor. Many folks only want to read and follow the prescription by the doctor himself, not the subsequent heretical interpretations and amendments. I think of them as the fundamentalists, whereas I'm more Mennonite- thoughtfully deciding what I'll accept or reject from mainstream thinking. Some days, you can hardly tell by looking at my plate that I'm an Atkins adherent-I blend right in.
But I am fascinated by the discussions and the glimpses into people's lives. Someone posted about losing 16 pounds in two weeks, and he only needed to lose 2 more to be under FOUR HUNDRED POUNDS. I read it several times, and that's what he said. Last night, he went to the hospital because he was weak, and posts continued as we found out he needed to reduce his blood pressure medication because the diet had helped so much already. Another woman was shunned by her in- laws and banned from Easter dinner because she asked if she could bring a dish to because the menu wouldn't have allowed her to eat anything while staying on the diet. (Casseroles, deep fried and breaded stuff, sweet salads and sweets). They were insulted. Her husband brought a lamb meat feast home and they had (small) family time instead. Of course, you have no idea what actually happened, or the context, but these little mini-dramas are oddly compelling.
I've seen a lot of good ideas for this way of eating (and only about half of them are bacon-themed). That's the main reason I follow these sites-looking for what people actually eat in real life, not for the voyeurism or the squabbles on orthodoxy. This morning, for example, I had a "pancake" made of two eggs beaten with a quarter cup full-fat ricotta cheese, and a splash of vanilla for richness. Cooked in butter. It didn't need sweetener in my opinion, though others would disagree and want at least sugar-free syrup on top. The visual was very pancake-like, and the taste was more pancake than scrambled egg. I read folks often put almond or coconut floor in (maybe a tablespoon) and that actually makes it fluffier rather than heavy. I'll try that-I've got almond flour in the freezer. It held me nicely past my normal lunch time. The only problem was I did not take time to make any vegetables, and of course fruit is a no-no. Except for blueberries, which I didn't have but which could be very good added to the mix.
But I spend too much time with racing and replying. I don't allow myself to look at Facebook while at work-though I often will spend my lunch in my office reading work-related blogs. I want to limit my time on this, because time is so limited. I currently feel like even watching tv is higher on (my abstract) virtue hierarchy. So I'm trying to ration myself. I look at the clock when I sit down, and try to cut myself off. Too often, I blow past my own deadline and keep reading. I'll have to consider more drastic measures.
Right now, I've got to get moving because daylight is burning. But will I click on Facebook before I stand up? Can I spend just 2 minutes on it? What's the harm?
