This week saw my return from an all-too-brief break from the newsroom.
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Well, I say newsroom, but really it's my computer in the toy room of my family's rental home.
The holiday was a lovely chance to spend time with my two kids during their mid-year school holidays, but more than that it was a chance to break a vicious and soul-numbing cycle I had fallen into.
Facebook.
I'm the first to admit it's an essential tool to engage with our audience, discover what's important to them, and share important information in what's become the fastest way to disseminate information in the modern era.
However, it's also fraught with pitfalls.
Social media has long been a space for opinionated "keyboard warriors" and interest groups all shouting into an echo chamber, while reasonable debate and respectful discussion is lost in the noise.
Add to that a highly marginal byelection, a global COVID-19 pandemic, and ongoing bushfire trauma and recovery, and it's not hard to see how Facebook feeds became a divisive and vitriolic place to spend time. And it's in that place I found myself stuck.
Stuck sifting through commentary and wondering if it was wise to respond. Stuck following the white rabbit along politicised trains of thought that went nowhere productive.
Bring on two weeks of dad-daughter adventure days, Lego building and nature photography and that "noise" blissfully faded into the background. Yes I still stopped by to check on the latest garage sale listings or to post cute puppy pics, but I put aside the relentless moderation of our group of news pages. It's a move I highly recommend.
Facebook and social media is a great way to keep in touch with what's happening, of course it is. It remains an essential part of how we at ACM go about sharing our content with readers. Just realise Facebook is not a news source - it is a tool actual news sources use to reach part (not all) of our readership.
It can be a helpful and sharing space. It can also be a hurtful and scary space.
I could admittedly be shouting into an echo chamber myself here by saying all this, but I know I've found a little more peace in my day by realising there's much, much more to life than falling down the rabbit hole of my Facebook feed.
- Ben Smyth