...and then THAT happened...

A man walks into a bar and sits at an empty table. Almost immediately, he notices a very attractive, much older woman at the bar. He thinks to himself, "She's a very attractive woman for her age - I wonder if she has a daughter...?"

The woman notices his gaze and approaches his table. "Tell me," she says to him, "were you just thinking about a mother-daughter thing?"

He can't hide the look of surprise on his face as he tells her, "Actually, yes I was!"

"And would you be interested in that sort of thing, by any chance?" she asks.

Not even trying to hide the huge smile crossing his face, he says, "You bet I would!"

The woman gestures over her shoulder back towards the bar and calls out, "Hey, Ma...!"


That joke has no bearing on this post, I just read it in an old magazine yesterday and thought I'd share it.

The real reasons for this post are to start writing again after a long hiatus, and to express why, after six or seven years, I abruptly quit Facebook the other day.

I'll let that sink in a bit.

Got it? Great, here's why...

Facebook stopped being fun a long time ago.

I don't suppose that's much of a reason, though, is it? As I get older (and older, and older), a lot of things stop being fun, but I don't drop them like they're hot.

(My teenage daughter LOVES when I try to be hip, even though most of my 'hip' references are from 5-10 years ago...)

In all honesty, Facebook isn't what it was a few years ago, and I don't really need to be on it. It's more of a time-suck than anything, and I'm really trying to make better use of my time.

What's changed on Facebook? Let me tell you...

I'm a man of very few good, close friends and many, many acquaintances.

And frankly, Facebook gives one insight into said acquaintances that I would just rather not have.

Anything is fair game on Facebook, and that means the two deadly sins as well - religion and politics.

And I'm just as guilty of spewing my nonsensical, poorly-thought-out views as anyone else.

If Facebook were simply a repository of kids pictures and restaurant check-ins and happy birthday wishes and funny memes, I'd hop back in tomorrow.

But it's not. It's becoming something darker. Or maybe it always has been, and my tolerance for it has just run out.

I hold some pretty firm, well-reasoned thoughts on politics and religion. I don't mind sharing those views with others if they're interested in a rational, mature dialog.

But there is precious little rational, mature dialog on Facebook.

That's not to say all of it is chest-beating garbage. I have a few friends who purposefully (attempted to) engage in thoughtful, intelligent discourse, but those friends are rare on Facebook.

And make no mistake, I know I'm just as guilty as everyone else in abusing the system. Or rather, using the system for that which it was intended - displaying your views, however hateful, hurtful and arrogant, for all the cyber-world to see.

But that's no longer me.

I'm still on Twitter, where I can ignore or unfollow the jerks and idiots, post my nonsense in 140-character bursts, and still engage with those online friends whom I consider to be real friends. Most everyone I enjoyed on Facebook is also on Twitter - those few that aren't I can still text or *gasp* talk to in person.