Thursday, January 5, 2012

Facebook be gone!

Aaahhhh!! I did it! I can’t believe I finally did it. After making the announcement on my wall, I gave it a few days for everyone to see and then found myself waiting an extra day…then another day, as I scanned each status and new picture as they were posted from the holidays. But last night I took the bull by the horns and deleted my personal Facebook account.

Oh glory be, halleluiah, amen! I’m so happy I did it.
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I’ve thought a lot about this lately. For the past year, I’d say. If you remember, even back in July, I wrote just how much Facebook was boring me, so after some thought and some wishy washiness on my part, I finally girded my loins {in the non vulgar way of course} and canceled my account.

:::Phew!:::

I have many reasons…in case you’re asking yourself, why would she do that?!

Well, let me tell ya.

After writing about being bored with it in July, LeAnna send me her reason for cancelling her account. She had many valid points that I actually agreed with. So it left me thinking more about it.
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Enter December and Becky giving her reason why she deleted her account all while linking to Neolani’s reason. At that point I was all pumped up. Doing the Rocky dance, gearing myself up for what would be the demise of my Facebook account.

I still hemmed and hawed a bit. Even though I never would comment on anyone’s status or pictures anymore, I still got on there at least an embarrassingly 20 to 30 times a day to scan everything real quick to see what was new and quickly jump off.

It became my wooby. My security blanket routine. Check email, check Facebook, check other email, check Twitter…rinse and repeat.

When I was getting asked from my Facebook friends why I was doing it, since it was a bit of a shock to a lot of them, I put it simply.
my exact answer to them:
Well, you can say I'm tired of being a creeper. Of jumping on FB several times a day to read updates and look at new pictures, never commenting but feeling its 'good enough' to know what that person's up to. I'm tired of people close to me feeling its ok to make a huge announcement via a status update and thinking its adequate, and not a personal call. And feeling frustrated over all the negative statuses and arguments. Of losing the friendship connections, never calling or emailing to have a true conversation, and vice versa. I've been considering this for months and today was the last straw for me seeing someone be rude to someone else. I want true friendships back. To have the effort be made to remain connected and involved in each other's lives.

Everyone seemed to appreciate my reason and asked for my information to keep in touch. Will we, on the few that did? I don’t know but we’ll soon find out. But I’m ok on the ones who were only ‘comparing themselves with me’ to separate myself from them. Or the ones who I hardly knew that were 4 years older than me in high school to not stay up in my business and me not being up in theirs, not to mention all my old co workers.

I’ll miss hearing the little things that my close friends and family will write and share but this will {I hope} encourage us to stay more in touch than before. And I do have this blog. This here blog shows more of me than any Facebook page could ever. With my family being far away and a chance that one day they’ll be even further, my blog will continue to provide them up to date information about all the happenings in my parts.

So there, my friends, is the reason I deleted my Facebook account last night.

Have you been thinking of deleting yours? What’s your reason for hanging on? Pin It Now!

14 comments:

Laura said...

I give you a lot of credit. It's so easy just to log into facebook and catch up with everyone's lives etc. But, in my personal life, I feel like it's taking away from really getting together with my friends and TALKING to them. I also find that it's so quick and easy to load facebook from my iphone that I do it a katrillion times a day interrupting playtime with my daughter etc. You've got me thinking though, maybe it needs to go!

~Laura

Green Girl said...

As you know, I got off it it almost a year ago and have not looked back.
I got on Katie's right after Hannah was born to post pics of her and announce her birth, but I logged on to her account, not my own.
My house is "facebook free" as well. No one is allowed to check their facebook in my house. Rule. Everyone knows it.
You will be surprised how people WILL fall off the face of the earth. I used to be super close to my cousin and her family (well, come to think of it, a few family members) and once I got on facebook, they dropped off the face of the earth.
For me, it shows how strong our relationship was to begin with, ya know?
It forces more intimate relationships which is what I was craving.
I met a guy who called it espianoge (too lazy to check the spelling of that!).
You will realize how much time you did waste on it.
I remember, like you, seeing people make comments and negative things and inform the world when they shower, poo, brush their teeth.
It also gives people free range to scutinize one another. I didn't want to be part of that and didn't want me to be the cause of fodder.
You made a great decision!

LeAnna said...

Man, I totally forgot we had this conversation already over the summer. Seriously. I think I need to be put into a memory care unit.

BUT, I'm proud of you!!!

I totally know how "Green Girl" feels about some people falling off the face of the earth, because I had that happen too. Goes to show how our society is in social media too deep. I actually had people tell me that it was bad for THEM that I got off. I was like, wow, that's creepy and totally selfish.

Did it all the sudden make me 100x's better at sending notes in the mail and picking up the phone? No, but it's a gradual process that I feel like I'm getting back to. I would rather find the time to send someone a nice lengthy note a few times a year, than to know everytime they eat nachos at their favorite restaurant but not really what's in their heart...

LONG story LONGER: The more time I'm off of FB, the more I'm glad, and the more of my reasoning makes sense.

Amen.

Erin Pasillas said...

I'm gonna do it. Here's my "why" (warning: confession coming)"... Life is not all about me. The only time I post anymore is when I want to show something off. A pic of my kids, a pic I took... Just waiting to see what other people have to say about it- as if I want everyone to be looking at what I post and validating it as awesome or neat or amazing. Fb is such a time suck. My kids suffer, my husband suffers, my family and my personal relationships suffer! So... As soon as I download all my pics that aren't on my computer from there, I'm kissing it goodbye! Thanks for the encouragement... Leanna's post was exactly what I needed to push me over the edge- i'd rather my kids remember me digging into the word instead of with a phone or computer in front of my face!!

Stephanie said...

Oh my goodness, Blogger is my Facebook. And maybe Pinterest a little bit. I check Facebook maybe twice a week on my phone, but I check blogger ALL THE TIME. It's TERRIBLE. I need to limit myself but I love other peoples blogs SO MUCH. Such a dilemma!

Annie M Culley said...

The reason I stay on is to keep in touch with my family that lives afar. There are family member whom I would not communicate without Facebook. I have grown closer with these family members through Facebook! Last August I went through and deleted all of the "friends" who were not real friends or family. This keeps my circle a little more tight knit.

I am all caught up on all your posts since October. Only took about 4 hours. :)

Natalie said...

Good for you! :D Although I still keep mine for family and friends who'd rather send me messages there rather than e-mail. Oh... and the page for the blog.

My-cliffnotes said...

If work wasn't sooo boring I'd delete mine too.

GOOD JOB, good job (clap clap)

Ashley said...

Wow, em! Thumbs up to you! I've deactivated mine in the past for a couple months at a time - just to get a break from it, but I'm not sure if I could delete my FB all together. Maybe...hmmm. Now, ya got me thinking...

I liked your response back to people asking why.

carissa said...

girl, i totally get it. i use it sparingly and i'm okay with it. but go you!!!! i'm glad you feel free!

Unknown said...

I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. It is SOOOOO useful for certain things (i.e. I use it for the NEEDTOBREATHE stuff I do, it makes event invites easy, I love the messaging feature as it has helped me develop long distance friendships, I love the glimpses into the lives of people I love.) It is also a time sucker, a relationship stifler and an outlet to encourage stalking for unhealthy purposes. I think the saddest moment for me was when I went to write Christmas cards to friends and family I also am connected to on Facebook...because I found I had little to say that hadn't been shared there. I also am sad that I think my dad calls less because he has a direct line to my life both on FB and on my blog. That's the bane of "social networks"...if we let it, it replaces real connection. My goal this year and the rest of my life is whether or not I have FB, I want to connect better. Put the phone away when hanging out. Write letters. Make phone calls. I won't be getting rid of FB any time soon, mostly because of the NEEDTOBREATHE aspect, but I am looking hard at how I let it be a part of my life.

Unknown said...

If FB wasn't so good for business, I totally would think about doing it. Twitter is the way of the future. haha!

Lindsay said...

Kevin and I were just talking about this last night. Facebook is getting to be... ridiculous. I'll upload pictures - once in a while. I'll update my status - once in a while. I'll comment on people's pictures/statuses - once in a while. WHY DO I KEEP IT?!

Oh. So I can "stalk" people and see what everyone is up to.

I'd love to delete it, but don't really see it happening anytime soon. Unfortunately.

Nicolle said...

Just ran across your blog and loved this post. I deleted my FB middle of last year and have not regretted it since. It's nice to know others feel the same way I do. Mainly I was getting hurt feelings b/c close friends would reply to others on FB, but not return my calls or texts. Or, they would say didn't you see what happened, I wrote it on FB?? It was a time waster for me and so impersonal. I feel a lot of what you said here. Thanks for writing a great post!

xo.
nicolle in texas

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