Hit the Brakes: Deactivate Facebook

It was eating up too much of my time. I would sit down to respond to emails or complete homework assignments and after a little while I would look at the clock in the corner of my screen and it would be two hours later - and I would have very little to show for it. Where was all my time going?

One Sunday afternoon in the middle of March, I was sitting on our couch, "doing homework." One of my roommates was also sitting on the couch, IMing with some friends. She glanced over at my screen and casually said, "On Facebook again?"

I jerked my head away from my screen and told her that I hadn't even realized I was back on Facebook! Here I was, ostensibly doing homework, when in fact I was frittering away the minutes on Facebook. Enough! I thought to myself. And right then and there, I decided to deactivate Facebook for an undetermined amount of time.

Since I was in the middle of some conversations via Facebook's message feature, I decided to delay my deactivation for 24-hours. I posted a status letting people know that I would be deactivating and then, for a little over two weeks, I went without Facebook.

And it was glorious! Suddenly, I had more time to work on assignments and I was forced to actually text or call my friends if I wanted to know how they were doing. My family wasn't too pleased, though - I repeatedly got calls from my mom and my older sister asking me to get back on Facebook.

I finally decided to get back on Facebook for a variety of reasons; one being that it is a convenient way to stay up-to-date on some of the details of my family's life that wouldn't be mentioned during a phone call. Another reason is that I enjoy seeing others' pictures and posting my own. But I do plan to go on another Facebook "fast" soon. Being without Facebook was actually a much nicer experience than I expected it to be. Rather than feel that I was missing something from my life, I felt that I had gained something. What that something was, I don't exactly know, but I suspect it was something along the lines of more time, less stress, and increased serenity.