no social media and missed major news!

amother

Fri, Jan 08 2021, 8:27 am

On principle, I do not have facebook/instagram/web-based social media of any kind.
today I found out some old news regarding someone that was time sensitive for me to have known a long time ago and I'm very upset. not enough to join social media but I don't know what to do. I guess this is more a of a vent because I don't know what the solution could be but I wish I had known back then what I only discovered now.

amother

Orange

Fri, Jan 08 2021, 8:57 am

Yes, very upsetting.

DH on principle avoids reading the news (including Jewish news). He figures if it's important enough he'll hear about it.

Well, a friend (not so close, but friendly) lost his father. DH didn't find out until months later. He felt very bad that he wasn't able to be menachem avel.

OTOH he is not changing his stance. He said that he called the friend and told him that he hadn't heard before, and felt it was a meaningful conversation.

amother

Dodgerblue

Sat, Jan 09 2021, 11:47 am

amother [ Puce ] wrote:

I quit facebook and Instagram this week.
I would like to quit whatsapp too but it's not practical.

I deleted whatsapp in November. I found it too stressful. I figured that only a very small percentage of information was useful. Yes, it's not that convenient without it but I feel no anxiety leaving my phone unchecked for several hours. Of course I need to be on top of things and not rely on whatsapp group reminders about school appointments for example but there was also soo much information to process, mostly discussions of people I don't even know. But I know that I can miss out on things there and I have to accept it. But I have much more time now.

FranticFrummie

Sat, Jan 09 2021, 11:55 am

OP, if you knew about the news in a timely manner, is there anything you could have done differently? Were you in a position to help? If not, then don't dwell on it.

BTW, there is a way to responsibly use social media. Just set your privacy filters, and don't add everyone and their dog. Keep it on a "need to know" basis.

I have a kosher phone, but it's making me crazy how Whatsapp has taken over the world. So many businesses now only want to communicate through Whatsapp, and neighborhood groups that have get togethers, things like that.

I can't even download Whatsapp on my computer, because the last time I tried to upgrade to Windows 10 my whole system crashed. It cost me 300 shekels to get Windows 7 reinstalled, and I lost every single bit of data I had.

I'm still holding out because I don't want a smart phone, but I think it's just going to be a matter of time.

English3

Sat, Jan 09 2021, 1:22 pm

I am so proud that I don't have social media, so much easier to live your life without pressure of others. There is so much online and other places to get info from. Keep up your good choices 😊

amother

Sienna

Sat, Jan 09 2021, 2:47 pm

Op, that's the tradeoff. You don't use social media. Your mind is clear of lots of garbage...and sometimes you miss something important. It will likely happen again.

TCR

Sat, Jan 09 2021, 7:25 pm

FranticFrummie wrote:

there are smartphones where you can block internet and only get certain apps that u need

amother

Ivory

Sat, Jan 09 2021, 7:54 pm

I have a kosher smartphone that has no browser and my computer blocks all social media.
I am so, so happy.
I'm sure it's possible to also "miss" news that's sent by social media.......just like I miss texts that were sent to me, either I don't see it, it gets deleted etc....I just had that last week, I sent my sister in law a picture text and she totally didn't see it till a week later...
I think you are giving yourself and your family such a big gift by avoiding all the unnecessary chatter and busyness that comes along with social media...
personally, I'm so, so happy I don't have it...yes, I miss out on watsapp pictures/videos/cute clips but the trade off is soooo worth it!!

amother

Brown

Sat, Jan 09 2021, 9:36 pm

Happens all the time. I am one of 12 siblings. 9 or so of us are on a whatsapp group. 3 in principle are not. We are always forgetting to update them on news posted. It’s a pain to send individual texts. We leave it to my mother to mention when she speaks to them but things get lost. We don’t all live in the same city and don’t speak regularly (for sure not with sister in laws) so sadly they are left out a lot.

amother

Amber

Sun, Jan 10 2021, 5:30 am

amother [ Brown ] wrote:

We have it similar, but we do give out a newsletter twice a month. Not like there’s any groundbreaking news in it, but for ones who don’t have whatsapp, they have sent via email. From all the siblings, only one doesn’t ever look at her email.