I have meant to post for a while, but I have been …detoxing. Yes, detoxing from Facebook. It’s an addiction I had for a while and had no idea how bad it got until it was out of control and I started worrying about people I didn’t even know and fretting over situations that I wasn’t even involved with.
I’m tired of people asking me to buy their stuff or fund their dogs surgery. I’m tired of knowing too much of your intimate personal private life. You know that feed on the right-hand side of the chat bar?
I was watching and up-to-date on all of those.
You know those blogging and help a blogger groups? I can think of 6 I belonged to off the top of my head.
And another 4 buy and sell ones. …but most likely more.
I would spend way too much time reading the forums/groups/pages. I would watch other people post things about their lives and in a cruel addiction that took away the opportunity to live my life. I have four beautiful children. They deserve more from their mother.
We weren’t made to live like this. We were made for real conversation not summarizing our lives in status updates or with 140 characters or less pretending life is nothing but unicorns and roses.
My Facebook unplugged looked a little like this:
1- I pulled the plug and Deleted Facebook off my phone. It’s excessive. You don’t need it. I sure don’t either.My life won’t change if I don’t know the most intimate details of everyone I know. What you had for dinner a week ago is for you to know and lets be honest, you don’t care what I ate either.
2- Log out of Facebook from your computer/tablet/whatever because having to login every time your bored is a pain.
3- Detox. Go through the crazy moment that you realize you had a life before facebook and the world won’t come crashing to a halt if you just don’t log in.
4- Return after a week. Wait it out a whole week. You’ll realize something when you do.
No one missed you.
If they did, they would have emailed, called, texted. Those emails I had? From acquaintances. The notifications? mostly game requests that are just another time sucking vortex.
I cannot believe I wasted hours of my day each and every day for that! I scrolled through my news feed and found myself a mixture of pissed off, bored, and lonely. I had created this fake world with false friends. People who like your comments or status updates, people who tag you occasionally, but ultimately there really isn’t a connection.
I thought I would feel better by shedding “friends” who’s only contact was when they “added me” but it’s so much more than that.
Maybe I should’ve waited two weeks to see how my life would be with my facebook unplugged.
5- Don’t go back on it more than twice a week. You won’t miss anything. Here is the trick for going back on: don’t spend more than 15 min on Facebook each time you return.
Remember: You will never have this day to live again. Your children will never be this age again. Every moment wasted cannot be retrieved. You have one shot at this. This is it.
I have to use Facebook for work so I cannot cut it off completely. However, I have been cutting down on my daytime usage.
I think it’s good to take a break every now and then. Good for you for recognizing that!
You are so right, it is easy to get sucked into situations on FB that you have no personal interest in. Great tips, thanks!
Great tips. I use facebook a lot for blogging but other than that I try to limit myself. Because you are absolutely right, the kids will grow up and life moves fast!
I really struggle with this because my personal and business lives are so intertwined. I’m really struggling to cut back and can do well enough without Facebook, but email is another story.
But where would I procrastinate if I didn’t have Facebook? No, seriously…it’s a time suck, and a horrible one at that. I’d love to just quit it if I didn’t work in a field where it’s kind of required. (Breaks are a good idea, though!)
I disabled my personal facebook a couple months ago and I don’t miss it at all. I still use FB for work and the blogging groups, and I love it for that, but I really don’t care for the rest of it.
I take some time off. Especially on trips. I am there to enjoy the sights and sounds so I don’t interupt an activity or meal to post.
I’ve taken a break from Facebook for a while myself and when I’m on vacation I very rarely log in. Sometimes you do need to unplug.
This is a really good remind for people to take a step back an evaluate their wants. I have pretty much unfollowed everyone on my facebook accounts and all my feed is blog/blogger related. Not because I don’t want to see my friends and family, but because it distracts me from what I went there for in the first place. Which is usually blog related. I completely understand your feelings on this and find I give myself mini lectures all the time.
Oh man… I keep saying I’m going to do this and am so hesitant to pull the plug! I 110% get what you are saying about being a time suck! I get so distracted by the ‘whit noise’ of facebook I waste 1/2 a day catching up on random BS that I work late at night to get real stuff done.
I envy you for this! I’m inspired! Starting Sunday, I’m doing it… 1 week!
Summer is my favorite time to unplug from social media. There is just too much life to live while the days are warm and fruit is ready to be picked.
Taking a facebook break sounds really refreshing. My son deleted his profile entirely years ago!
It’s definitely not good to depend on things like Facebook as often as we can these days. Taking a break is a good thing!
Such a heartfelt post. I can definitely understand where you’re coming from. It’s hard not to be influenced by other people’s social media posts. I might have to give this a try myself.
I’ve actually been off Facebook for one whole year and what a difference it made. People use Facebook for the wrong reasons which makes it extremely overbearing
So, so true. Facebook has become an addiction for me and I don’t even like it. I’m going to start weaning myself off it right now.
At least once a year I go a week with my phone turned off and completely detoxing from technology. It really helps keep everything in perspective and remember people always need to come first. There’s a lot to learn from a tech fast. – Katy
That is great I use it for blog purposes mainly but can easily get side tracked which is a time consumer
I think taking a break from social media is always a good idea. It’s never good to feel a sense of need for anything, especially something such as Facebook.