FACEBOOK FAST

At the end of March, my good friend Brooke and I got chatting after a dinner we had with a bunch of our friends from high school. During our conversation, the subject of Facebook came up. To make a long story short, we both entered into a pact to delete our accounts as soon as we got home that night. Be prepared, for this is going to be long...here's why I deleted mine:

I was getting on Facebook two to three times a day. Each "session" lasted maybe ten minutes at most. During each session, I would browse through the most recent comments people had made on their profiles and check to see if anyone commented on my own posts or profile page. I found myself getting tired of the usual, predictable comments friends of mine were posting. And to be honest, many of the people whose comments I was getting so involved with reading really weren't my friends in "real life" however I'd come quite acquainted with their daily goings-on through Facebook. These were people I barely even knew! Why should I care that So and So ran three miles this morning and was now making an organic fruit smoothie? Or that So and So didn't feel like cleaning her mess of a house today and just felt like sitting around in her pj's? I had become way too concerned over almost total strangers' activities and comments. Just because they were my "friends" on Facebook, did not mean we were friends. That sounds mean, I know. But it's the truth.

Second, I found myself wasting time trying to come up with witty and/or funny comments to post on my page. Okay, think about how dumb it really is, that we all get on Facebook and write something funny, then sit back and see how many people comment on it. I prided myself on at least not being one of those Facebook people who updates their comments every hour...but really who was I kidding? I was still trying to get attention by writing something clever that everyone would get a kick out of.

When I first started using Facebook, I loved finding friends that I'd lost touch with and hadn't seen or talked to in a long time. It was great to catch up and browse their pictures and see what they'd been up to. Then it sort of became this game to see how many friends I could obtain. I was never really one to go out "searching" for friends, but if someone extended the invitation, I usually accepted. I found it interesting that many times after becoming friends with somebody- usually just an acquaintance, who's picture I had to study for a minute to be sure I knew them before "accepting" them as my friend, we never even said "hello" to each other. How funny is that! It was all about the numbers at that point. That person didn't care one bit about me and my life, and the same goes for my concern about his/hers. At most I would stalk their pictures to get an idea of what they were up to, but that's it. And it was the same with them.

Since getting rid of Facebook, I still keep in touch with those I consider my friends. I don't feel like I'm out of the loop, or that I'm losing a relationship that I once had with someone. My closest friends were and still are the ones who call me or write me an email to see how I'm doing, and I do the same with them. I've found better ways to use my time when I have extra, and I feel like I'm doing a little more to better myself. Now I'm not saying that everyone who's on Facebook is lame or wasting their time. But when I really took a step back at my reasons for being on it, I realized there was a lot more I could be doing. I'm glad I got rid of it and I think I'll be a better wife, mom and friend because I don't have Facebook!

Steph