Quitting FB (: Disconnecting from home internet (:

I do not wish to spend time on FB anymore. Although It has been well documented that people who leave FBmay as well be banished to Neptune once they go, I'll take my chances. My creativity is at stake! For those who are conscientious objectors to FB and thinking of quitting, please don't hesitate to contact me the old fashioned way, by email. I don't want to participate in the FB-template-ization of the world. I don't want to make Mark-what's- his-face any wealthier. With it's like and dislikes, status reports, etc. I don't want to offend anyone but I truly wonder what it is doing to our humanity. It's too much! FB is -for me- a big creativity/energy zap. I need time to just sit and think, don't you all?As soon as I reactivated my FB I noticed I spent less and less times at my instrument and more time comparing myself to others, feeling like gee what am I doing wrong here, bla bla bla? When I am perfectly happy- mostly downright fascinated, actually- just puttering at the piano in my own world. Comparison equals depression- something many musicians have struggled with all of their lives, myself included. When I logged on I felt crabby, irritable and freakish. Nuts to it! "Am I supposed to like this FB stuff?" "Doesn't matter, you must do it. It' s good for your career.""But it's torturous and bad for my soul and I hate it." SO QUIT! Live as you truly like. -Vernon Howard Though annoying at times, I liked myspace better because it was set up to immediately be ABOUT MUSIC. I could hear your music and you could hear mine right away. Was it all that much trouble to click a damn button on a computer to send a flipping message? What was so wrong with myspace? And the whole mixing family with former school mates with work contacts with my best friends with my mother in law, with the occasional random weird-o, etc…Am I the only one who finds this incredibly weird and confusing? And people who won't write to you "out of FB"? WT? So here I go, for good this time, for my own sanity and at the risk of my social demise. But I have to ask everyone on FB and social networks incessantly buzzing and tittering and posting, etc: What are we all doing here? Turning into robots, mechanical cyborgs and machines willingly? Will we start reporting our status at funerals? I went to the Monterey Aquarium and no one was enjoying it first hand in real time- they were all filming everything. Hello? Isn't this making us awfully insensitive and unable to appreciate the moment? And FB hasn't helped me with my business, getting people out to shows, with meeting musicians and it certainly has not made me feel connected to anyone in the way I would like to feel connected to people. (in person) "You're doing it wrong then." That's always the answer. Have you ever noticed that most of the folks that tell you you need to Tweet and FB 5 times a day are social media gurus? That they have a vested interest in your dependence on it? What music have they written lately? Seriously now. Is music supposed to be the last thing on my list? All this just makes me a scattered zombie with factoids about inane and unimportant things in my head. No No NO. I won't go! So, I am not the Donald Trump of jazz piano. I really only want to live a real, creative life. It's simple. This week, I cancelled my home internet connection and got a cat (Rufus Wrigley) instead. Thanks for reading my natterings. Be well and say hi sometime, Nina Ott ninaottmusic@gmail.com