After listing my children as a Groove Blocker, I had a little remorse until trying to get Miss I'm Not Going To Lay My Head On This Pillow Pet And Close My Eyes No Matter What Tone Of Voice You Use to take a nap this afternoon. Major nap fail for her and serious aggravation for her mother. So nope, I'm not going to feel guilty for placing the little angels on the list because they prove fairly predictable in their behaviors!
When I began blogging, my #2 Groove Blocker may have existed, but I wasn't active on it at that time. It was about 2 years into blogging that a fellow blogger friend invited me to join her on Facebook. I was reluctant at first and then I started searching for old friends and found many. I was intrigued and got sucked right into the black hole of Facebook! From that point on, blogging became #2 on my computer use list.
To say I was addicted to Facebook would really be an understatement. I checked it constantly. I searched incessantly for people that I knew would eventually show up one day and many have. Cpt and I had many tense moments over my Facebook addiction and many times I have deleted my account and said I wouldn't go back. Guess what? I always did!
Facebook became - I'm using past tense here because my Facebook activity has greatly decreased recently - my place to connect with other grown ups while Cpt was out playing Army here and afar. It became a place to vent or to share with whoever read their News Feeds what funny or frustrating things were going on in my life. Therefore, it replaced the very things that I started blogging to do! It was so much easier and more convenient to snap a picture with my phone, write a one sentence summary and have it instantly appear with my photos on Facebook. The negative though, is that my years of Facebook activity can't be printed out in book form so that we can cherish those memories for the rest of our lives.
Just recently, like last week, I posted that I was leaving Facebook and for all practical purposes I have. I haven't deactivated my account because there are a few organizations that use Facebook as their means of communication so I need to be able to check those regularly. There are also coupons that can only be acquired by liking the manufacturer's Facebook page. I have deleted the apps from my phone and from my tablet so the temptation to check the News Feed every 5 minutes is gone.
Spiritually thinking, doing away with my Facebook addiction could be equated to letting go of those things that so easily entangle me. (Hebrews 12:1) It was entangling me - my time, my mind, my emotions. There really is a freedom that comes from moving away from the seemingly small things that can take a foothold in our lives. For me, good old Facebook is or was one of those. So move over Facebook, you're not going to keep me from blogging any longer!
Ouch!!! This post is very convicting!!! I may need to follow suit! Facebook really is a time sucker/waster for me!!!
ReplyDeleteJust stopping by from the 31 Dayers directory and had to give you a 'You Go Girl!' over your facebook decision. After deciding to cut out all the 'fake' that was surrounding me at the time, I realized that twitter was the most superficial, facebook next in line, and blogs were the most 'real'.
ReplyDeleteI dropped both the former and am sticking to my blog. Reality is a great place to be!