Life After Facebook

So, in what might appear to have been a response to some banter on a couple Facebook posts, but in actuality isn't, I've closed my Facebook account again. I won't say that the banter had nothing to do with it, because it did have a hand. As I was going back and forth on a couple different posts I realized a few things.

1. Emma wanted lunch and I kept telling her, "Just a minute."
2. Lincoln needed some special attention that I wasn't giving him and he needed lunch, too.
3. Faye has been spitting up a lot today and needed some special cuddling.
4. I'm wasting my time with people that I am just making angry, who in the past I have considered friends, but who I know to be very sensitive and easily offended.That was wrong of me on a few different levels.

I also got thinking about how I rarely blog anymore. I noticed that as soon as I joined Facebook, my blogging went down a lot. It was easier to keep in touch with family and friends through Facebook. The blog was supposed to be a way to keep me writing and keep in touch with my family and some special friends. The blog's activity went down and my wasting time on Facebook, not even doing anything close to keeping in touch with people I care about, went up. I wasn't getting what I wanted out of Facebook and I certainly wasn't working on my writing skills. I want to know how my family and friends are doing. I want to see their kids and how they are growing. I want to see what they are doing with their spouses and their family vacations. Most of Facebook is, "I'm at such-and-such store and look what I'm buying" or some attempt to be witty or funny. Occasionally you get little glimpses into their lives from a picture, but nothing more than a sentence is added to it. No real way for us to connect. And yes, sometimes the little witty or funny status updates are fun and amusing, I'll admit it. But it is no longer enough.

I know that to really connect with people I need to see them person to person. And I wish I could. I have quite a few friends that I miss desperately. I have family that sometimes all I hear from them in a week or a month is what I see on Facebook. That's not what I want. I want more of them. I want face time with them. Not their dog or cat or a picture of what they ate for lunch. Opting out of Facebook might mean that I could be the last to know something big that is going on with a friend or family member, or that I might never know. I hope that isn't the case. I hope I'm able to keep my family relationships and friendships going without Facebook. I hope to e-mail, write letters, call, and visit more often. I will try to keep up with friends' blogs without letting myself become consumed on the computer.Those means of communicating are much more fulfilling for me.

I am about to embark on an adventure. An adventure other than getting off Facebook and being a little more Old School, if you can call blogging Old School. This adventure will require a lot more of my time and patience. The internet will call to me for a break. I can't give in. Too many times I have allowed myself to be sucked in by the computer and right now is the time for me to start weaning myself.

I'll make an announcement about the adventure later. Some of you already know a bit about our decision and some of you are completely in the dark and have no clue what I'm talking about. For now, I just want to prepare and that means no Facebook. It's just too tempting as a time waster and I don't have time to waste.

And with that, I'll leave you until next time.