In which Piers does not miss some things

put this in your pipe and smoke it, Piers.

1.  Facebook.  I am keeping an active profile, but whereas I used to interact with it all day, and spend a good amount of time staying updated on various and sundry people/things, I am restricting my posts to it and barely reading it at all.  Things turned sour last year as the election season dragged on, but the straw that broke the camel's back was the CT school shooting and all the remarkably thoughtless, ill-informed, overly emotional, and even dishonest things posted about it. I hoped that most would choose to remain silent in the face of such sorrow and depravity.  I was wrong.  The effect in many cases is like listening to a person at a bar who has had too many and is just shouting whatever comes to his or her head. I've had enough.  Plus, I really dislike the way the company runs its business.

2.  Twitter.  Ditto.  Following people became a chore.

3.  Following college sports.  I keep an eye out and enjoy watching football still, and was gratified to see that my prediction for the BCS title game was borne out. Otherwise, though: it adds almost nothing to my enjoyment of life and does a great deal to upset my peace of mind. And don't get me started on the distorting effect of ESPN and its affiliated channels. I will enjoy attending games at my current institution, but I don't watch the stuff on TV nor do I follow the websites like I used to. This isn't a moral or ethical stand of any sort; I just don't get pleasure out of it like I once did.

4. NPR. Haven't listened to it in years (and you'll note that NPR aficionados don't listen to "the radio," even though that's what they're doing). I don't feel the least bit deprived.

...

What I do miss most of all:

1. Time to read.