I decided yesterday that, although late, I would give up Facebook for the rest of Lent.
Giving up Facebook has actually been on my mind for sometime now. I've felt very weighed down and depressed lately when I get on there, or I have felt that comments made on posts were disrespectful, rude and tasteless. Negativity is starting to really upset me more and more. I read some statuses and realize that the world I'm living in now is just depressing and mean. I have never understood some people's need to just be rude and judgmental toward each other. Recently I've discovered that some people extremely close to me and really bad about being that way.
Another thing I noticed was how truly dependent I had become on the social networking site. It seemed that when I get up in the morning, when I come home from work and before I go to bed at night I am always on Facebook; and to be honest, there really isn't that much on there that is worth all that time spent on the site. It is nice to be able to see how people are doing or what they are up to...but really, if I could clock my hours, I'm sure most of my time was spend trolling Facebook to see what was going on. Especially when you haven't spoken to someone in a while and all of the sudden there is a new post on my feed about them.
So, officially at ten o'clock last evening I gave up Facebook until April 8, 2012. My Facebook page has gone completely silent (unless you guys are posting things on there that I wont see until I log back in on April 8). My hope is that maybe I wont want to get back on it, or that it wont be quite as important anymore. Maybe I can get away with posting a few pictures or seeing what my close friends and family are up to. Right now, my goal is to chronicle what life is like without the Social Networking site for the next 35 days.
Here is today's chronicle.
I woke up and rolled over to look at my phone and noticed that little grey Facebook "F" was not in the upper left hand corner of the screen - my first reminder of the day that it was day one of "No Facebook." I got up, got dressed and did my make-up for the day and powered on my computer. I got my lunch together and put everything in my crate for when I was ready to leave and entered my office to check my e-mail. I opened both of my personal e-mails and my work e-mail then powered down my computer. I still had FIFTEEN minutes until I had to leave work. I ate breakfast before work for the first time since OCTOBER!!! I also made my bed before I left for work (which usually happens, but I've been slacking lately). Already I was feeling good about my day!
I left for work and at lunch realized that my phone hadn't gone off with an alert about an updated status all day. I looked at my phone and it was eerily silent. I've discovered that I have absolutely NO IDEA what my younger sister or my mom are doing today...because I realized that is how we communicate unless one of us takes the time to call the other. How scary is that?
By the time Debate Team rolled around I was still feeling really good! I thought by this point during the day I would be having symptoms of withdraw! No Facebook for 18 hours - this was a record for me! Then my debate kids decided to have a debate about "Social Networks do more good than harm." when I told them I had given up Facebook for the next 35 days. They did a really good job of finding information that argued both sides.
When I got home from work, I almost slipped up. I made my dinner and ate it peacefully at the table and then came in to my office to pull up my work e-mail (maybe I should give up working at home, too). As I was pulling up windows as called for in my "normal routine" I almost typed in the Facebook web address. I stopped myself as my left index finger hovered over the "f" on the keyboard. Whoo! Close call.
So far tonight I have been able to respond to several parent e-mails, post work to the website my students use, work on my online class, finish a project for my online class and type this blog. I've gotten more done because I wasn't distracted by Facebook than I've gotten done in a while.
So far I am at 23 hours and 10 minutes Facebook free and I'm feeling pretty good. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
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