I kept deleting Facebook after using it. It wasn’t because I hated social media. It was because every time I closed the app, I felt like I’d spent twenty minutes chasing adrenaline, drama, or comment threads that quietly fed an inner tension. Then I’d look up from my phone, eyes spinning, carrying the strange hangover of having been everywhere except where I actually was. A question would whisper:
What did that cost me?
Then I’d step outside.
The same seven crows would show up for the ninety-eighth day in a row, waiting for their handful of unshelled peanuts. Somewhere nearby, a woodpecker called with a sound that reminded me of a peacock, and I’d remember—I want peacocks. Their ridiculous iridescent blues and purples, strutting around like feathered royalty. Then I’d remember they cost around a thousand dollars, and a coyote could probably turn that investment into lunch in a single gulp. No thanks.
Why is watching seven crows more healing than scrolling Facebook?
Because they invite wonder instead of urgency.
They aren’t just crows anymore. They’re my crows. The exact same seven. We’ve become familiar with one another. They know where to find peanuts, and I know who arrives first, who’s the boldest, and which one hangs back until everyone else has eaten. We’ve quietly become part of each other’s routines.
When I leave Facebook, the awe I feel toward myself and the world has somehow dimmed. I scroll through comment sections that are equal parts outrage, certainty, and performance. I used to think they were a training ground—an opportunity to learn how to share my opinions, stand up for myself, or understand different perspectives.
Instead, I found myself absorbing everyone else’s emotional weather.
I wasn’t leaving with greater wisdom. I wasn’t becoming more compassionate or more connected. I was simply carrying around emotions that had never belonged to me in the first place.
The crows ask nothing of me except to notice them. The algorithm asks me to stay. One deepens my attention. The other consumes it. Algorithms feed the addict. Wonder feeds the soul.
Unrelated: I need more peanuts. A stop by Walmart is up next.
Love, Jaclynn
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