I’m Off of Facebook! Let The Productivity Begin.

I bailed on facebook today. I’ve been thinking about doing it for awhile and I’m sure some of you have heard me talking about it. I’ve already have a few people send me email and texts as if I had died which is kind of funny. I also had a few congratulatory emails, as if I had started recovering from some kind of addiction. I am not dead. I am not mad. I am not insane. There is no one particular issue that made me do it, it’s just been going on in my mind for awhile. I’m not angry with anyone or anything, I just don’t feel like it is enhancing my life. I’ve been trying to get rid of things in my life that don’t make me happy and facebook is a distraction at best and stressful at worst. I like seeing people’s pictures and knowing what they are up to, but when it really comes down to it, I’m not sure I actually feel more connected to anyone. There are a handful of people that I am in regular touch with via phone, text, etc and that really is enough for me. I’m happy with a few meaningful connections rather than hundreds of random updates and farmville stats. I guess I like my interpersonal relationships to remain interpersonal rather than being community friendships where things are constantly taken out of context or viewed differently than intended. It’s a lot of drama that doesn’t need to exist in my world. I also like having a feeling of at least a little control of what about me is out in the world. I’ve recently started paying cash for almost everything I can which has both made my monthly statement easier to read and made me realize how much money I spend on really dumb shit. Technology is a wonderful thing, but the goal of technology should be to automate and simplify tasks in order to make things easier for people or make it so they have more time to do the things they love doing. It should enhance your life in a positive way. I found myself almost manically checking facebook for updates. I checked it yesterday during a softball game with my nephew. That’s fucked up. Anyway, there are lots of reasons for doing it and almost all of them are positive. I’m not saying everyone should do it, but I feel good about it.