It's official...I'm not on Facebook anymore (for now!!). I've wanted to wean from the addictedness that is called Facebook for quite some time. I'm not sure what even draws me there in the first place...but isn't that how it is with addictions(idols)? We are hooked and we don't even know how we got there.
I remember that fateful day sitting at our dining room table while my father-in-love showed me this cool site they were on. I'm always the cynic....skeptical one. I even said...."Looks like a waste of time to me. Who has time for this stuff?".... Much to the chagrin of my FIL I'm sure!!
Yet here I am a few years later weaning myself from it. This is my second attempt in the past year. The first attempt was thrust upon me like a baby with a dirty diaper.
I was trying to show how one of my darling children was addicted to that other addiction we women tend to crave.....CHOCOLATE. I challenged her to give it up for awhile, to which she charged back....
"If YOU give up Facebook!"
OUCH!! WOW!! Snarky teenager!!
"Fine!! Challenge on!! Let's see who gives in first."
I'm the ultimate competitor.....I'm gonna WIN!!!
So I set out.....NO FACEBOOK here I come!! I made a list of all the activities I could do instead of waste my time on FB....(you know really.....I wasn't on ALL THAT much....you know how kids exaggerate!?!) The list was long....really long. I even put it up on my bedroom wall...right by the light switch so I would see it every morning as I got ready for my day.
I would show you the list....but it's gone...not even on my computer!! That about sums up how well that worked!
But seriously....I don't know exactly what drew me back. Maybe Extreme Couponing?? Sooo many companies were offering great deals for "liking" them on FB!! I couldn't miss out on that! Or was it that most of my "friends" contact me through FB? I don't know.....
I do know I got back on. I don't know who won the bet!
So jump to last week. Another challenge to a teen....another counter challenge to me. Actually this one was different. I offered my fast. I desired it. Facebook is really not good for me.....not good for my health!!
HEALTH??? HUH???
Yes, my health!! Because my brain was beginning to think in STATUS UPDATES. Short 180 character updates. I would go through my day not thinking in long, drawn out, fully descriptive paragraphs....like I used to. My journal was non-existant. And even now as I've started to write again....I can only write in "bullet points".....not paragraphs.
The other problem is that Facebook is fake. Who is going to post that they threatened death upon their kids? Kicked out their husbands? Have anorexia? Are a closet smoker/alcoholic/lesbian/pornography viewer/(put your own vise in here)? Who puts on there that they are in a deep severe depression? That their kids are felons? Their teen daughters pregnant? I don't know....I could make the list a mile long!
When I first heard that psychologists are now diagnosing teenage Facebook depression, I kinda scoffed. But now I don't. It makes perfect sense. When we log on to facebook we see such "perfect" lives. We only see the good, fun parties everyone(but you) is attending! But of course we see these things.....who wants to throw out their dirty laundry to a bunch of "friends"??
So I'm off. Really off!! (O.K....I only "deactivated" it....the next leap will be "delete"....but I'm not there yet.) It's only been a week and I have high hopes this time. I am hoping to regain the way I used to relate to people....personal notes, a quick "hey, howya doin'?" phone call, an invite for dinner, swinging by to say "hi"......and even blogging!!!
So here is a salute to the DARK AGES......before FB....quill pen here I come!!!
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