It's been a few weeks since I've been off of facebook.
Since getting off, I have gotten LOTS of questions from dear friends asking WHY on earth I got off of it in the first place. I will go ahead and break it to you that it's really nothing juicy. No one deeply offended me or "made" me want to get off. But in an effort to clear the air, here in a nutshell is why I dared to deactivate...
Disclaimer: I do not think facebook is a bad site. I don't look down on people who have facebook. This is just my personal experience. No judgement, y'all!
A few months ago I began feeling a little restless about being on facebook. Yes, a few different scenarios prompted this feeling but nothing too crazy. It was just enough to get me to really start praying and asking the Lord for wisdom on what to do with this space in my life.
I'll give you a bullet point version of what He showed me and then I will expound on each one. So your curiosity can be cured in two seconds or two minutes (depending on how fast of a reader you are!)
So here you have it in a nice, clean little list:
I got off facebook because...
1. Facebook was wasting my time
2. Facebook was wasting my energy
3. Facebook was not benefiting me anymore
Wasting my Time:
This one is obvious. Facebook sucks time. Maybe it's just me but I
am embarrassed by the number of times I'd sit and say "let me check facebook real quick" then 45 minutes later I'm asking myself where the time went. There's SO. MUCH. INFO. on facebook now. It's gone beyond just creeping on somebody's pictures. Now you have access to online yard sales, articles, recipes, pictures, status updates... the list goes on and on!
Now when I first had Reese and was desperate for anything to keep my groggy eyes open during middle of the night feedings, facebook was awesome. It made the time go by so fast! But now she's here wanting my attention and I really don't have the time to be "checking facebook real quick". Because there's just nothing quick about it!
Since getting off of facebook, I have been way more productive. I don't really have idle time. I'm filling it with real life and it feels really good.
Wasting my Energy:
I love to learn. I do a lot of research about birth, nutrition, holistic medicine, etc. I'm just spongy that way. I like to soak up information in all it's forms. So it was with the purest of intentions that I would share articles, links, blog posts, etc. about all kinds of topics. But then the strangest thing started happening... people started getting offended and taking it out on me for posting, sharing, etc. This was really hard for me to understand at first. I found myself saying things like "Wait, I didn't write this. Why are they upset with me because they don't agree with it?" Puzzled, I found myself trying to defend my point of view. And it became exhausting.
You see, I kind of view my facebook feed like a magazine. I mostly "read" magazines for the pictures but occasionally I will come across something that strikes my fancy so I might stop to read it. If I see something offensive in US Weekly, I just turn the page and ask myself who really wore it better.
After quite a few instances of feeling misunderstood, I decided that my energy was better spent elsewhere. Facebook has a way of turning grown women into middle schoolers. Instead of having a problem with someone and going to them in private, we think it's ok to spout off our opinion "in front of" everyone. It's just silly and aint nobody got time for that. Including me.
Matthew 7:6 says "don't give your pearls to pigs". I don't think all my "friends" on facebook are pigs. The analogy here is that pigs don't understand the value and worth of pearls. So giving them such a precious gift would be silly. As I grow in my friendship with the Lord and develop in my role as wife, mom, friend etc. I've learned that I have to be even more careful about where I spend my energy. I want to spend it with the people I really call friends. The ones who know me or are getting to know me. I just don't see facebook as the best environment to do that right now.
Not Beneficial for Me:
I love this verse in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Verse 12 says " Everything is permissible for me-- but not everything is beneficial."
When it all boils down, this is the main reason why I gave facebook the boot. The reasons I mentioned before were situations that confirmed the decision. It just wasn't beneficial. Could I be a Christ follower and still have a facebook? Yes! Will I ever have facebook again? Maybe! It's just become clear that during this season of life, the negatives outweigh the benefits.
There are definitely things about facebook that I miss. Friends who are out of town or I just don't see face to face often could very easily slip through the cracks. But is it really a meaningful connection to see someone's highs and lows in a status on a screen? I love pictures but they don't tell the whole story. If we're not careful, facebook will give us a very false sense of community. How many times have you started telling someone about an experience and they say "Oh yeah yeah I saw your pictures on facebook". Or how many conversations did you avoid all together for fear of being redundant? "I'm sure you saw this on facebook but..."
Again, facebook isn't bad as long as we continue to remember what it is and, more importantly, what it isn't.
The Lord has been challenging me to live intentionally and to live with purpose. Those two things sound almost like synonyms but they're more like a cycle. When we live with intention, our lives are filled with purpose. Having purpose drives us to be intentional. See what I mean?
So that's that. I'm sorry it's not more juicy and dramatic.
I look forward to seeing you in real life!