Things I've Learned

Easter Sunday is only 12 days away, which means I have been Facebook free for about a month. Saying I'm Facebook free makes me sound like I'm announcing my sobriety.... But it kind of is what I imagine (on a much smaller scale) what becoming free of your addiction is. Not to say I was addicted to Facebook, but without Facebook I have realized how little of importance it is to me. Now this doesn't mean I don't miss seeing posts from family members or friends, but I have found a greater importance in things I do enjoy, that I've forgotten about because I would waste time on Facebook.

I have been reading a lot more books, which I love. I get to watch the sunrise every morning on the bus, instead of looking to see the latest posts from the Facebook world. Instead of checking what my friends are doing on facebook, while I'm with my friends, I actually hang out and talk to them.

I do get my social media fix on Instagram, so I'm not completely out of the loop. I was comparing Instagram and Facebook to my sister and brother-in-law and how I think it's completely different. Sure, you scroll down and see pictures of people, you follow people the same way you would "friend," people, but that's about it. People don't post pictures nearly as often as they do on Facebook, which is nice. And since its a fairly new Ap, I'm not following 800 people like the 800 friends I had accumulated on Facebook over the last 9 years.

Yes, 9 years. I joined Facebook in 2004 (maybe early 2005). I joined Facebook as a freshman in college.

I think 9 years of Facebook is enough for me. Now I'm not saying I will never get Facebook back, but I really like not having it. I feel more connected without it. I feel more connected to myself and my close friends and my family. It sounds strange, but not having facebook is a relief. I like to not know what people are doing and saying every single day. I actually saw an e-card a few months back that said "I always wondered what it would be like to read people's minds, but then I got Facebook."

I have given up candy, alcohol, diet coke, and Facebook for Lent over the years.

The hardest to give up? Diet coke. The easiest to give up? Facebook. Facebook is such a habitual thing. When I deleted the apps from my phone and iPad, I found myself scrolling over to Facebook and not even knowing it. I wasn't consciously doing it. It was just a habit.

A lot of people were almost worried about me when I gave it up, like I was falling off the side of the planet. But truthfully, we have all fallen off the side of the planet more and more each year because of the Internet. It's a wonderful thing (at times) and a horrible thing (at times). We have, with help of the internet, become lazy and impersonal, while claiming to be so connected! The only thing, dear friends, that were connected to, is the Internet!

I went snowshoeing for the first time a few weeks ago and it felt so great to be disconnected to everything. Sure, I took pictures, which I later posted to Instagram, but I had a few hours of that silence you get in the snow and didn't have an ounce of cell service. And I chatted along the way with one of my best friends. And I laughed more that day than I have in the longest time. I had back spasms from laughing so hard, tears streaming down my cheeks, and a smile so big my cheeks hurt.

I want more of those times. And I want to "be in the know," and use the Internet of course, but just not as much, and not on Facebook.

I'm not trying to convince anyone to get rid of Facebook, but if you've considered doing it, do it. Give it a shot. From the Facebook lover herself, it's not as hard as you think!