Breaking Up with Facebook.

Until last Friday, Facebook had some sort of terrible stranglehold on me. It was like having a relationship with a really possessive guy; the type who always wants to know where you are (kind of like facebook mobile) and what you are doing (status updates no one cares for). It finally came to head, where I realized there was more to life than quixotic status updates, Office trivia and Flair. I had make a clean break of it- and Facebook and I couldn't "still be friends". May 1st was coming up the next week and it seemed that a new month was a good time to start fresh.

So I did. I deactivated my account. It was a hard moment, and I'd be lying to say that I didnt almost change my mind in the week before May 1st. But the minute I clicked the little confirm button in the dialogue box, I got up from my desk and life instantly improved. People who need to get in touch with me call me now, instead of messaging me on facebook. I talk to people I want to keep up with. I have no idea what's going on with my 7th grade math teacher, and those people I never really knew in High School. I dont know what Bobby Jindal is going to tell the press today (I was a fan of him....) how many finals my sister has left before graduation or how some one's dog behaved at the park. I talk to people now instead of reading about them on facebook. And that 20 or 30 minutes I was wasting everyday facebooking people who messaged me are free for me to do what I want. I finished a book among other things.

And like any relationship that comes to an end, there are downsides to breaking up with Facebook. The friends I made in Durham while nannying were all on Facebook, and I now I dont get to contact them as easily. I wont be able to see pictures of the Small Fry as they grow up. But these are small things. I want to remember the Small Fry when then were small and I have lots of pictures, and I did make the effort to learn to text (I hate texting. Its hard) so I can keep in touch with one girl I had become close with. But everyday farther away from the tangled web of facebook is easier. I don't feel that need to check facebook. Its a relief.