Facebook Mission: Accomplished

So we are well into March and I have yet to finish reading and write my review for A Casual Vacancy, my February book pick (thanks to a little switcharoo that had to take place since I couldn't get Sweet Tooth at the library until... yesterday). The fact that it has taken me over a month to read this book should hint at some of my feelings about the book, but I will wait until the last page has been turned to give a full account.

What I know you're really dying to hear about is how my month "without Facebook" went. To be perfectly honest, I was not diehard about this and I don't really feel ashamed about it. Have a snide comment to make about that? Let's see you give up Facebook for a month, and then you can be critical about my go at it. I snuck a few peeks here and there and looked in on my notifications (stupid of me to plan a party/meet up using Facebook invite and then think I could just disappear for a month) and messages from time to time. In my original post I discussed that I had no intentions of being Nazi-like in my requirements for avoiding Facebook. If you struggle with authority, as I do, telling yourself you absolutely can not do something only makes you want to do it more. Instead - just like a good diet should be a life-long lifestyle change, rather than a 24 hour fast - I was striving to change my relationship with Facebook and show myself that I didn't need it on a daily basis. Mission: Accomplished.

From the beginning, the two best things I did was un-bookmark Facebook.com on my computer toolbar and delete the Facebook app from my iPhone. It was amazing that these simple actions kept me from constantly checking my newsfeed whenever I was working on my Mac, and kept my thumb from robotically updating my notifications on the iPhone. I still haven't added the bookmark back, and although the app is back on my phone, I'm keeping it on homepage #2 so that it's not the first thing I see every time I unlock my screen and I've disabled my notification alerts.

I was as surprised as the next person that, since feeling completely free to comment, like, and post my little heart out as of March 1, I haven't really wanted to. Facebook isn't what it used to be (meaning back in college days), and I'm realizing how very little purpose it serves in my life now - especially since Instagram is so much more prevalent these days. Pictures say more than words. In any case, even though I peeked a few times, I refused to comment, kept myself from "Liking" things, and avoided making snarky responses on occasion, and really enjoyed this month of FB silence (especially during the Academy Awards) and a newfound value of privacy.

Now I just need to work on my TV addiction.