It Was Painful, But I Did It

Just like kicking any addiction, habit, or vice in life, it was tough making the decision to finally delete my Facebook account. I had new complaints about it with each passing day, and the negatives of having a profile really seemed to outweigh the positives anymore. These are a few of the reasons why I finally bit the bullet and deleted my Facebook account. Call me a traditionalist, but I'm hoping that maybe some day my life will consist of more quality phone calls, emails, and maybe even the elusive snail mail item or two.

It may have been a television program I watched late last week that really kicked my butt into 'Facebook deletion mode', but it was something that had been in the back of my mind ever since my husband deleted his account months ago. It was time for me to draw up enough strength and 'unplug' myself from all of the pseudo connectedness that Facebook made me feel.

Facebook seems to do a wonderful job at making us feel that we have tons of friends (around 400 in my case), but in all reality Facebook was only making it convenient for keeping hundreds of acquaintances at my fingertips. What good was that doing for my quality of life? I don't know about you, but I find that keeping up with relationships can be tiring. Friendships take work, and I feel that Facebook is degrading the definition of 'friends'. Growing up, I was always the kid who wanted a few close friends more than I ever wanted tons of meaningless friendships. I guess I haven't changed much in that department over the years. I will forever be the girl who wants to do things all the way or not do them at all. If you don't really want to be my friend, and you only want to keep me at your fingertips when it suits you, then I would rather be without you as my real life and Facebook friend.

After finally deciding to delete my account, I posted a status update letting my friends know that I would be deleting my account and to email me if they wanted to keep in touch. I received only a couple of comments from friends who let me know they wanted to stay in touch, and I received a couple of emails in my inbox as well. Out of almost 400 Facebook friends, I would say that was right along the lines of failure. Either that or their news feeds were too cluttered with more very important things, like Farmville invites or Spotify song suggestions, to notice that one of their friends would be leaving the world of Facebook. In that case, it solidified my decision. Being part of a human advertising experiment was never all that fun.

There are a lot of people who I miss, and would love to stay in contact with, but I prefer more meaningful methods of communication where you actually hear the other person's voice on the other end. Skype me! It's like an old-fashioned phone call but with video included. I'm not saying goodbye to all technology, just the ones that don't make me a better person. And yes, I do everything I can to not answer my cell phone during dinner. Like I said, call me old fashioned.

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Below you can see the video of me actually going through the process
of deleting my Facebook account.

Yes this is actually me.... I rarely wear my glasses.
Try not to laugh.

* I really struggled with the captchas, they don't make those easy do they? *

Did you know that deactivating your Facebook and

permanently deleting it are two completely different things?

{ you can read more about that here }

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I hope to use my new found 'free' time post-Facebook for learning, reading, writing, and

maybe even sending the occasional letter and thank you note via snail mail.

In the words of my high school art teacher,

who was always one of my very favorites,

"Quality over quantity!"

{ Thank you Mrs. Fuller! }

* oh and if you're wondering.... I haven't missed Facebook at all.