BlankBook

I don't curse on my blog but you can fill in the blank with whatever you want...
I have some new revelations on Facebook and social networking sites in general. Sometimes change happens to you when you aren't looking for it. Something unexpected happens, forcing you to change an aspect of your life. A few weeks ago, my Facebook account was suspended because I have a virus on my computer. Someone was sending out spam from my FB account. I know how to fix it but I haven't had time to fix it so...no Facebook for a while.

Here is what I discovered. I don't feel deprived that I don't know what everyone is doing and thinking all the time. I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. I have gotten back that which is most precious of all ...time. I have gotten back innumerable hours of wasted time. Just sitting down and logging on to FB takes a few minutes. If you do it twice a day, scrolling down the status updates, that takes at minimum, 20 minutes a day. That's all the time I need to do one session of yoga! If I have other things to do like add friends, answer messages, or God forbid anyone IM me to chat ( I really hate that) then you're locked in for a good 45 minutes or more. I don't have that kind of time people! I'm a busy lady! Why have I wasted so much of my life on FB? There have been two instances where I needed to access my account and I couldn't. That was annoying. But the reality is, I only actually needed FB twice in almost a month!

The truth is, the Christmas season was a very smooth one because of my lack of FB. I had time to bake pies, cakes and cookies! I had time to roast a duck on Christmas Eve! I had time to play with the kids for days after Christmas and spend that precious time with them. Guess what else? I had time to clean out and rearrange my closet and I even had time to unpack the final two boxes that were sitting in the bottom of it since we moved here in March. And when we traveled to Banner Elk, NC for New Year's, I was so used to being out of the FB loop that I didn't miss the internet at all...not one little bit! I also feel better. I feel good about the ways I'm using my time and that alone has lightened my mood. I'm not going to make a blanket statement like: "I'll never use Facebook again!!!" But I am definitely going to go there less and keep these revelations foremost in my mind when I do. It's not exactly a New Year's resolution if you've started it before New Year's; but maybe it's the kind of resolution I can actually keep.