Long before I signed on to Facebook, I had a page on Ning. I heard about Ning at a conference and I loved it. I still have my page, Yankeetrains.ning.com.

Yankee Baseball and Lionel Trains was a fun way to share two of my passions, the Yankees and Lionel trains. I had pictures of both and would occasionally share posts from my blog. It truly was a social medium.

To be fair, Facebook was also a social medium. I was able to connect to family across the nation. I connected with friends I hadn’t seen in years. It was terrific, and I was regularly checking for updates from all my friends on Facebook.

Now, I rarely log on.

I don’t share my blog on Facebook too often. This entry won’t appear on Facebook, but it will be on my Linkedin page and Twitter.

I got to despise Facebook during the 2016 election as more and more anti-posts appeared on my page. I have a diverse family as well as many friends who were offended by what appeared on my page. None of it was from me but who needs it?

Then I began to hear about the russians (lower case on purpose) and their despicable interference, and I am sure they were responsible for some of the posts that sullied my page.

It makes me think about a history class I had in my last year at St. John’s. We read Understanding Media by Marshall McLuhan. “The Medium Is The Message” or as someone else put it, “The Medium Is The Massage”.

One of the propositions put forth had to do with the electronic revolution and the shrinking of the world. Because of computers and the ease of communication that was possible even before the internet had been created, people of different cultures were going to connect much more easily than ever before.

When we discussed this my professor asked what happens when we find out we don’t like each other?

Well, I guess he was right. For all the joy that connecting with family and friends the Facebook experience has connected us to some people we would rather have left off our list.

I am capable of believing that some of my blogs were offensive to some and I really hope they deleted me from their friend list. It’s the American thing to do.

You don’t like MSNBC?

Changed the channel.

You don’t like Fox and Friends?

Change the channel.

It’s what they call free speech and the right of privacy.

We have the right to select what we listen to and the right to be left alone.

Exercising those rights in a respectful way will help eliminate the Anti from Social Media.