Opinion: Life is for living, not for Facebook

Life goes on, with or without Facebook. Photo/Getty

You can't say I haven't given it my best shot.

For the past two months I have put every effort into embracing Facebook.

Some years ago a friend set up my Facebook page.

It remains unchanged to this day because I don't know how to change anything on it.

I don't think I looked at it for 3 or 4 years.

But I am constantly reminded to "get with the programme". Everything is on Facebook these days.

"That's where you find out what's going on. You're missing out on so much" my friends tell me. I don't feel that way at all.

There has been no drop off in my email traffic and my mobile phone is always active with calls and texts being received.

I think I'm well connected and informed.

I do recall when I first got my Facebook page I accepted all "friend" requests.

That was easy enough. I just clicked away: accept, accept.

I didn't know who most of the requests were from but if they wanted to be Facebook friends, why not?

This must be the reason for the ridiculous amount of notifications I get every day from people I don't know.

I haven't "unfriended" anyone though. Does anyone do that? I suppose that's just a click, click job too.

Two months ago I knew things must change. I couldn't get by anymore saying I rarely looked at Facebook, even my own page.

And it couldn't be that hard to learn how to use Facebook properly. I think it wasn't so much that I thought it was difficult to learn rather that I wasn't particularly interested in learning.

But with everyone using and swearing by Facebook I'd get on board.

With help I'd learn the ins and outs of Facebook use and I'd be sold on its benefits.

I'm not.

I'm still waiting for the benefits to appear. I'm not better informed. I think it's a massive time-waster.

For two months I have spent most nights looking at Facebook and the notifications I receive.

Sometimes that could take a couple of hours.

And at the end of that time I would have trouble recalling anything I had looked at.

Nothing was remotely worth remembering. With a few exceptions it was all stuff I didn't want or need to know about.

I think I've got the problem.

Not Facebook and those who use it. I'm the odd one out.

I think Facebook comes at a cost. A cost I'm not prepared to pay. My time is precious and valuable. Where and how I spend it is important to me.

I found I was wasting time every evening looking for goodness knows what on Facebook and never finding it. "Make news" isn't really news and it's not interesting.

It's just a lot of noise. Talking about stuff, shallow stuff at best isn't interesting either it's just plain boring.

Apart from family and a few friends, there's not much I want to share with others.

Perhaps keeping things private belongs in the past. It's not that I couldn't comment on what I see on Facebook but, honestly, who cares and why would I bother? It's just not that important to waste time on.

We are told social media is where "it's at" these days.

Keep and stay connected, be informed. But to what exactly? I don't need to know most of what is being posted on Facebook.

Others might feel compelled to share I don't. And if there really is something I need to know, or can help with, I am always contactable.

I am not one to resist change. But life is for living.

I refuse to watch it play out on a screen.

Merepeka Raukawa-Tait is a Rotorua Lakes Council councillor, Lakes District Health Board member and chairs the North Island Whanau Ora Commissioning Agency. She writes, speaks and broadcasts to thwart political correctness.