On October 01, 2021, the Playvolution HQ Facebook page will cease to exist–we’re leaving Facebook.
I’d planned to keep the page going into 2022, but a recent kerfuffle with the faceless guiding hand of Facebook led me to speed up the exit. Long story short, for over a week they revoked my ability to publish to the page I started and grew to a following of 240,000+ FB users. Why? They said they needed to verify my identity and location. One step in gaining control of my page required that I install and use their app on my phone and allow them to track my location.
I’m not up to anything exciting. If they need to track my dog walks and trips to the farmers market, so be it. Or at least, so be it for a while. I find the whole thing a bit invasive, Orwellian. So, in keeping with the Orwellian theme, I’ll be flushing the page down the memory hole and leaving Facebook.
A bit melodramatic? Possibly.
In the end, I no longer want to live in the Facebook ecosystem. It’s not an environment in which I find value, joy, or fulfillment. I used to be addicted–if that’s the correct term–to the Likes and the clicks and the attention of social media. Those things bathed my brain with happy juice, but managing it all sucked up lots of time, attention, and focus.
A few years back–a timeline search says late 2017–I chose to live differently and stopped posting to my personal FB page. Then I removed social media apps from my phone. Then I shut down active and relatively popular accounts on Instagram and Pinterest. It’s been freeing. Social media became an unpleasant chore.
How Much Times’ Left?
I’m counting down the time remaining:
[wpcdt-countdown id=”128390″]
Why Wait?
Two reasons. First, although most of the still useful or interesting content that’s been shared on the FB page over the years is now browsable and searchable on the Playvolution HQ website, I need some time to scroll back and see if there are other artifacts I should dig up and relocate.
More importantly, I want to give the people who have generously shared their attention on Facebook a chance to consume the early learning content I have a hand in creating in another way. With a future Facebook exit in mind, I’ve been building a mailing list for years. There are now lots of options to get content sent to your email inbox. For example, there’s a list to get daily early learning quotes, another to get fresh podcast episodes, another for DIY ideas, etc. You can also join lists to get regular updates about upcoming trainings and events, or play-related articles, or caregiver self-care. You can check out all the options with a click of the button below.
What Now?
I’ll continue to create and curate early learning content that will live on the Playvolution HQ website and build live and on-demand online trainings that will live on the Explorations Early Learning site–all deliverable to your inbox with a subscription. I expect the quantity and quality of that content to increase as I take this last step away from social media, since that was the result with the small steps I’ve taken in that direction over the last few years. Furthermore, I’m also interested in talking to anyone out there in Facebookland creating original play-centric content and wanting it to have a home beyond the FB platform.
Hard Feelings?
I’m not angry at Facebook or leaving in a huff. The platform served a purpose for over a decade, it was a useful tool. It also connected me with some amazing people and led to a number of great adventures. It’s just time for me to head toward the exit.
They may struggle a bit at first, but I’m sure Mark Zuckerberg and the platform will do just fine without me. 🙂
Author
Jeff Johnson is an early learning trainer, podcaster, and author and the founder of Explorations Early Learning and Playvolution HQ.
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