Life Without FB

I deactivated my Facebook account almost 2 months ago. And life without Facebook has been very interesting these last couple of months. At first I missed being able to read the massive amount of updates and know what was happening with so many people. I missed looking through hundreds of pictures from peoples’ vacations, weddings, and nights out on the town.

Then, after a while, I became comfortable with not logging on and the urge to “Facebook stalk” decreased to now being nonexistent. I realize now the vast amount of time I spent on Facebook and how often I would pop on for a quick update. During those first cold-turkey weeks I became aware of how often I would think of a status update only to then remember that I didn’t have an account to update. I also stopped taking as many pictures since I wouldn’t be creating photo albums for the internet world to view.

That last change is one of the negatives to not being a part of a social network that I didn’t think of before hitting the deactivate button. I didn't take into account/wasn't aware of all the things I would miss. Social networks have become such a part of our everyday lives that people do not report news or send updates any other way anymore. Remembering birthdays is now dependent on the website’s reminder since no one actually writes down birthdays. I almost forgot my grad school roomie’s birthday 2 weeks ago since I didn’t have Facebook reminding me daily. I’ve also missed the status updates of friends who have gone from engaged to married and the overwhelming amount of pictures that suddenly get posted from all our mutual friends who were at the wedding. It’s also harder to feel connected to girlfriends now that I can’t spy their profile for information or see pics of their new boyfriend.

I’ve received plenty of hints, requests, and demands to reactivate my account. And I have a lot of new friends who want to add me and I continually have to explain that I don’t have an account. I’m sure I will reassess the decision in a couple of months after curiosity gets the best of me and my desire to be socially connected through a website is unbearable. But for the time being my account will stay deactivated and my world Facebook-less.