We live in interesting times. Twitter and Facebook have removed the barrier between performers and their fans, making communication easier than ever. And while the Randy Blythes and Mark Hunters of the world have fully embraced the new reality of social media, Every Time I Die/The Damned Things frontman Keith Buckley has chosen to unplug from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. In an extremely lengthy post on his own website, Buckley details that wanting to block a friend whose online persona was significantly different from him in person.
“This longing to wean myself away from the web started about a year ago when I realized that there was a disparity between a friend I had in real life and the way he portrayed himself on Twitter. This gap between the observed and the objective was not even the biggest problem, it was my reaction to it that sent off the flares. It was never anything personally offensive, just disingenuous and in order to insure that my perception did not run the risk of impinging on my knowledge, I told another friend that I was going to unfollow him. I guess I expected him to respond in the way a family member might when you tell them that you will not be attending the funeral of a grandparent because you want your last memories to be pleasant, so when he replied “he’ll be so bummed out”, it was jarring. It should have been simple. I was unimpressed at the airs being put on to his less informed followers and, like I do when I can find no emotional attachment to a character in a book, I opted to put the book down and find something that interested me more.”
The post names another instance in which a passive-aggressive post was made about a mutual friend of Buckley’s and the poster. Admittedly, from what he mentions in the post and what a reader leaves in the comments section, he might have been a bit addicted to his Verizon EnV2. But with 17 days down without tweeting, it seems like his non-New Year’s resolution is working. But even though he’s not on FB, Twitter or Instagram, he still has his own website as an outlet, which is kind of cheating. Then again, maybe we could all learn a little by unplugging from social media. Except for the fact that we’re on Facebook and Twitter, so at least keep us.
