Bringing back the Art of Conversation!

Social Media has taken over our lives and recently I have realized that it has also taken away parts of our lives too. Therefore I have decided to stop using facebook.

Reason 1: The other day I was out with some friends and I realized how annoying it is to have someone check their facebook via smartphone in the middle of conversations. While noticing how annoying this is, i also realized that this is totally something I do. I have gotten to the point where i cannot go anywhere without my phone. A while back I read a blogpost about "mom, put down your damn iphone" or something like that and when i saw Anna breastfeed her child and needed to have her phone in her hand I had my eyes opened up. Surely she thinks that "damn Iphone" is as important to me as her.

Reason 2: When I run into someone from highschool or college or anywhere for that matter I feel like facebook has ruined the art of conversation. We already know everything about eachother right down to how much weight we need to lose. I have started a few conversations by asking "how is...." and realized it was a stupid question because thanks to facebook I already know. I have also wanted to share something about me but it is redundant because thanks to facebook they already know.

Reason 3: I have an addictive personality, a trait that was likely passed on to me by my father, and when I am addicted to something it seems as though I either need all or none. Now before you start sending me AA cards, I am talking more like Chocolate and Facebook. In an attempt to get physically healthier I have been cutting Chocolate out cold turkey so now in an attempt to get mentally healthier I am cutting out facebook. Facebook puts everything out there for everyone, especially if you are me. I started by disabling my wall to try and decrease my sharing. then I cut my friend list in half because I was incapable of not oversharing.

Simply put I appear to be unable to use facebook minimally so I am going to stop. I need to work on the most important relationships I have without the distractions of my overly obsessive curiosity with what everyone is up to. While Max has his evening bottle I am going to read to him instead of search facebook. When Anna wants to do a puzzle I am going to keep my phone in the kitchen instead of my pocket. After the kids go to bed I am going to work on my scrapbooks instead of stare aimlessly at my computer. And while Guy and I are in bed I am going to....Use my iphone to play scrabble with him. :) And when I see someone I am going to Ask "What have you been up to?" and actually be curious!

But I still want to stay in touch with my facebook friends. I am on Linked In for work and I have a twitter account (mostly so i can pretend I am friends with celebrities and reality TV stars) and I still use old fashioned Email, Phone, and Text. And of course I have this blog which I will continue to write in and share photos. So please follow it so that i am actually sharing with someone other than myself.

So there you have it in a nutshell. Guy thinks this is a phase and doesn't think i am serious. Who knows, maybe you'll see me back here later but definitely will be a long while. I will stay live for tomorrow so that I can hopefully get some blog followers but then after that I am shutin' er down for atleast 28 days (they say thats how many days it takes to break a habit, hense 28 days rehab...facebook rehab in my case)