Devices and Desires Redux

The Facebook Follies

‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
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by Farwell Forrest | March 21, 2018

A bitter harvest? It sure sounds like it. A swelling chorus of insiders are affirming what we’ve long suspected, that Facebook is harvesting the most intimate details of our (once) private lives and then turning a blind eye when their lovingly curated data is used to target political ads and influence the outcome of national elections. Facebook’s flacks deny this, of course. But maybe you don’t find their “hear no evil, see no evil” shtik convincing. (We certainly don’t.) Or maybe you’re simply tired of letting a bourse of billionaires decide what you should read and see and do. If so, why not “go commando”? Drop Facebook, leave tweeting to the birds, and start rediscovering the real world, in all its untidy, unfiltered splendor.

That’s where we come in. Back in the Same Boat and Tamia Nelson’s Outside and are celebrations of freedom—freedom to go where YOU want, do what YOU want, and see what YOU want. Canoeing, cycling, hillwalking… They’re all about freedom. You don’t need wi-fi. You don’t even need gasoline. Just shut off your smartphone, open your front door, and go. Follow your nose. Follow your heart. Follow your dreams. And don’t give up when the going gets tough, It’s not the first step that’s the hardest. As Hilaire Belloc observed many years ago, “The first step is undertaken lightly…; it’s the five hundredth that counts.”

No matter. You’re not alone. We’re here to help. We won’t tell you where to go, and we won’t tell what to see. But we will help you find what you’re looking for—if you want us to, that is. All you need to do is ask.

Good luck. And welcome aboard. We really are all in the same boat.