on life without Facebook

It's been a month since I've deactivated my Facebook and thus far, I have no regrets doing so nor do I have any plans to reactivate it any time soon. What reasons made me go off it you might ask? Plenty, I must say.

First off, I used to waste soooooooo much time on FB. I would procrastinate from studying to go on it and I would put off tasks that needed to be done to spend time on it. This, I felt was really unhealthy, as it really kept me from paying attention to my priorities.

Next, I didn't like the fact that anyone in the world-wide-web could be stalking your profile. Granted, there are privacy settings to counter this but I still felt uncomfortable with the idea. Call me crazy, but there were times when I felt that my actions were being followed by people whom I was not necessarily close to. Creepy, is all I could say!

Thirdly, people on FB can be so dramatic: whining about the smallest things, making a big deal out of futile things, taking things out of context, etc., etc. I don't want to read or see this crap!! It's influenced me too, because at some points, I found myself doing the same.

As well, in relation to my third point, this year, I intend to keep my life as drama-free as possible. I feel like FB just brings about more drama than I need in life right now.

Equally important, I don't like to conform. I feel like FB has grown into this great, big fad that one is bound to hear FB come up in conversations when on a bus. I don't need this social utility to feel like "I belong". Just as I refuse to get on the Lululemon bandwagon, I also refuse to be stuck on the FB runaway train.

Finally, people equate having lots of friends on FB as reflecting real life. Sadly, this is far from the truth. If anything, FB distances people, because they don't take as many opportunities to physically meet up with people in person in order to stay connected, as people had done before FB ever came in to existence. I'd rather feel the 'presence' of my friends and make the effort to catch-up with them, than to stalk their page just to see what's going on in their lives; and if distance is an issue, I'd prefer emails or Skype calls, which I feel are much more personable than FB wall posts.

I have come to realize that life without FB is so much simpler and drama-free. I sure hope that it stays this way!