Yes, folks, I have now spent more than one week without Facebook! And I'm still standing, breathing, and (mostly) still alive!
Here are the things I love about not being on Facebook:
Emotional Peace
This is the biggest advantage - not being mentally involved (and upset by or in turmoil over) all of the various issues, articles, debates, etc. of which Facebook is so thoroughly filled. My mind and my heart are much more at peace, and I can focus on what I need to be doing without worrying about what others think of me, my goals, my profession, my activities, my faith, whatever. This has been a blessed relief, and I love it. I'm just not someone who can dismiss conflict lightly - it affects me deeply, in a very negative way - and Facebook just has way too much of it.
Being More Present
Mentally present, that is. I don't know about you, but I can be "with" my family physically while my brain is off in Facebook-land, saving the world or writing brilliantly-worded answers to debate questions. Not good for my sanity or my family. I'm more free to focus on my family and my home.
More Time
When I don't have the constant lure of Facebook, the computer is much easier to ignore (and to spend less time on), and I'm getting more done.
More Effective Computer Time
When I do get on the computer, I am much more effective at using my time - whether for reading articles, blogging, working on record-keeping, finding recipes, working on projects - whatever it is, I get more of it done when Facebook isn't there to distract me.
Here are the things that I miss:
Personal News & Events
Except for little updates that DH gives me, I have very little idea of what is going on in my friends' lives - and I don't like that. I miss everyone!!
Fellowship
I miss the interaction with other moms and other bloggers, with friends, with my church. I feel like I've pretty much lost my church, since Facebook is our main way of communicating as a body! I really miss the fellowship.
Conclusions
Were it not for the above two things I miss (news and fellowship), I don't think I'd be going back. I just love the emotional peace that I've gained from being away from Facebook.
But I really miss everyone.
Thus, I have some work to do: Facebook is a good servant, but a bad master. I have not yet discovered how to turn the master into a servant. I know that there are some groups and pages I am going to leave and "unlike," among other things, and that I am going to make Facebook sabbaticals a regular part of my months. But I don't yet know completely how I want to handle Facebook - so I am going to make that a regular part of my prayer time while continuing my sabbatical.
What do you all do to tame the Facebook monster, and to keep it from robbing you of your time and emotional well-being?
I miss you all! Looking forward to checking back in when I can - probably in a week or so.
Is it possible to only subscribe to friends and unsubscribe from all pages, groups, and causes? I don't find that facebook holds any of those debate/stress elements for me, but I also don't participate in any pages like that. I'm also not friends with people who post cross things.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe you could create a "list" that just has friends on it, and look only at that feed most times, and only go to the bigger feed that includes those other pages when you feel like you have the time and emotional energy to spare.
Hey, that's a great idea! I don't know how to do that, but I have heard of that - I will look into that. And I'm definitely going to be unsubscribing from a bunch of groups that just tend to be too volatile. I'm going to finish this week out off of FB and then check back on to start doing some housekeeping. :)
ReplyDeleteBTW, Joe told me that you were looking for a copy of "The Strong-Willed Child" - we have one that you're welcome to borrow! It's an older copy, though, so I don't know if that's what you're looking for. Just let me know and I can bring it for you on Sunday if you'd like it.
Miss you!!!! :)
I've been scaling back on f/b as well, in an attempt to scale back on overall computer time. Yesterday, I dropped my friends list below 200, and for the past several weeks, maybe even a couple of months, as I've been scrolling through my daily news feed, I notice the pages that are on the feed, and have been ruthlessly cutting back on them. A few, I have just unliked entirely, but most I have remained an official fan (or "liker") but opted to hide them from my feed. For one thing, it's easier -- hover over the item in your news feed (of a person or page), then look to the right edge of the column and you'll see a down arrow. Click that, and you can choose (at the bottom) to "Hide all from..." [the page or friend that posted the item]. Otherwise, you have to click on the name and go to the page's wall and choose to "unlike" the page, then go back to the news feed and start again. Or you could probably find all your likes on f/b somewhere and start there; but the "hide pages from the news-feed thing" works better for me.
ReplyDelete