I successfully left Facebook for one whole month, merely just as a personal experiment I have planned to do for quite some time. I have read a lot about it and even seen a few videos on people who have actually done it and thus far have concluded that one has to try it out himself/herself in order to witness its effects. But before I dive into that, let me just recap on what the whole deal really was.
I came to understand that social media in general can be a poisonous thing to society, and may have a range of short-term and long-term negative effects on us on many levels, subconsciously or otherwise. Solving or identifying the problems associated with social media requires a person to leave it for good, or should that be impossible for some, simply leave it in a certain amount of time. And rather than leaving all of it cold turkey, one may choose to leave some of it, or even leave only one particular social network that he/she predominantly uses. In my case, it's Facebook.
Originally, I was going to leave Facebook for two to three months minimum, but that changed to only one month for some reason. So after having procrastinated a bit, on 31 August 2017 I finally found the courage to actually log out of Facebook, delete the application from my cellphone and toss my phone out the window. Well, I did not throw my phone out the window. That would have been overly dramatic but throwing it out did cross my mind, though. I have to admit, the first couple of days without Facebook was somewhat unsettling. My mind can't stop thinking about it. My hands were itching to re-download the application just to get a glimpse of that damn newsfeed. God bless that newsfeed. I was shocked to learn that I actually miss Facebook! Never did I consider myself to be one of those idiots who are addicted to social media. But there I was, a junkie craving for a fix. However, I did not re-download it. I stayed strong and by the third day I survived without any symptoms of withdrawal whatsoever. But the fact that I actually miss it is what scares me the most. Seriously, especially to you millennials out there, you have to try it out and see for yourself what a social media junkie you are.
So I made it. I was Facebook-less the whole month of September. And do you know what exactly I found out through all of this? At home, I find myself spending more, more time with my family and found out how much my children want me involved during their playtime. Communication between me, my wife and kids became more effective. At work or with friends, I paid more attention to my surroundings and tasks at hand, and my time and spacial awareness improved substantially. Though I was never the type of person who fiddles with his phone whenever in the presence of family, friends or associates, or during any form of social occasion because I have always considered that behavior to be very rude. However, I do, from time to time, take a quick glance at my phone and that alone is enough to distract me. So, without Facebook, I clearly notice that even those quick glances disappear. In totality, I live my day to day routine in a much better state of awareness. I seem to be able to recall past events in more detail. These are the improvements I experienced myself during my one month break from Facebook. Imagine what we would learn and what other positive effects there would be in a one year break. Or a full scale, full time social media abandonment altogether. But small steps shall we?
This is not to say that social media is bad. I'm just trying to point out what it has done to us so far. How it changes the way we think and the way we live. Just as anything else that has good in it will most likely have bad in it as well. We just need to be more careful and mindful when dealing with these things. Knowing the problem is better than being oblivious to it, don't you think? So that's my account on leaving Facebook. I believe that we would all benefit from something like this if we would just challenge ourselves to actually do it. Go ahead and try it out. For me, that was definitely a new territory to explore. And it was totally worth it.
I came to understand that social media in general can be a poisonous thing to society, and may have a range of short-term and long-term negative effects on us on many levels, subconsciously or otherwise. Solving or identifying the problems associated with social media requires a person to leave it for good, or should that be impossible for some, simply leave it in a certain amount of time. And rather than leaving all of it cold turkey, one may choose to leave some of it, or even leave only one particular social network that he/she predominantly uses. In my case, it's Facebook.
Originally, I was going to leave Facebook for two to three months minimum, but that changed to only one month for some reason. So after having procrastinated a bit, on 31 August 2017 I finally found the courage to actually log out of Facebook, delete the application from my cellphone and toss my phone out the window. Well, I did not throw my phone out the window. That would have been overly dramatic but throwing it out did cross my mind, though. I have to admit, the first couple of days without Facebook was somewhat unsettling. My mind can't stop thinking about it. My hands were itching to re-download the application just to get a glimpse of that damn newsfeed. God bless that newsfeed. I was shocked to learn that I actually miss Facebook! Never did I consider myself to be one of those idiots who are addicted to social media. But there I was, a junkie craving for a fix. However, I did not re-download it. I stayed strong and by the third day I survived without any symptoms of withdrawal whatsoever. But the fact that I actually miss it is what scares me the most. Seriously, especially to you millennials out there, you have to try it out and see for yourself what a social media junkie you are.
So I made it. I was Facebook-less the whole month of September. And do you know what exactly I found out through all of this? At home, I find myself spending more, more time with my family and found out how much my children want me involved during their playtime. Communication between me, my wife and kids became more effective. At work or with friends, I paid more attention to my surroundings and tasks at hand, and my time and spacial awareness improved substantially. Though I was never the type of person who fiddles with his phone whenever in the presence of family, friends or associates, or during any form of social occasion because I have always considered that behavior to be very rude. However, I do, from time to time, take a quick glance at my phone and that alone is enough to distract me. So, without Facebook, I clearly notice that even those quick glances disappear. In totality, I live my day to day routine in a much better state of awareness. I seem to be able to recall past events in more detail. These are the improvements I experienced myself during my one month break from Facebook. Imagine what we would learn and what other positive effects there would be in a one year break. Or a full scale, full time social media abandonment altogether. But small steps shall we?
This is not to say that social media is bad. I'm just trying to point out what it has done to us so far. How it changes the way we think and the way we live. Just as anything else that has good in it will most likely have bad in it as well. We just need to be more careful and mindful when dealing with these things. Knowing the problem is better than being oblivious to it, don't you think? So that's my account on leaving Facebook. I believe that we would all benefit from something like this if we would just challenge ourselves to actually do it. Go ahead and try it out. For me, that was definitely a new territory to explore. And it was totally worth it.
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