On Saturday, I deactivated my Facebook.
Now, to those of you that have never gone through the process, let's just say that Facebook really, really, REALLY doesn't like the idea of you leaving.
First.. There's no "delete" button. But if you go into Account Settings then choose Security, you'll see something like "Deactivate account".
Once you find the deactivate (notice that it is not delete) and click it, it takes you to a page where they want to know why you're leaving.
Now, the best part isn't that it asks you why (more on that in a second), the part that made me laugh is that at the top of the page, it shows you pictures of 4 of your friends (for me, it happened to be the four people that I interact with the most), with the blurb "So-and-so will miss you.. Send them a message!" under each of them.
Below the pictures of your bffs that will miss you, because they're only you're digital bffs, and you'll never see them in person (please pick up on the sarcastic tone in that statement).. It lists like, ten reasons in the "why are you leaving?" section.
Of course, they don't want you to just say why. When you click one of their reasons, they then try and convince you to stay! When you select the reason, a little pop up appears to defend and help!
- "I don't feel like my information is private enough."
- Did you know that you can control your privacy settings? Click here and we'll show you how!
- "I spend too much time on Facebook."
- Did you know that you can control how often Facebook emails you notifications? This will help you not jump on Facebook every time you get an email about it.
And there were tons more. It cracked me up that they really didn't want you to leave!
And.. Even after all that.. They tell you that "you can log back in at any time and your account will reactivate, and it will be like you never left!".
I've read online that apparently if you don't log in for 14 days, then your account is deleted.. But, that's in contradiction to what Facebook says.. So I don't know what the deal is there.
Now.. Why did I decide a detox was necessary? There's a plethora of reasons..
- I am on it all the time. I'm on it on my laptop, my phone, my iPod.. And honestly, I didn't really notice how often I'm on it on my phone until I deactivated my account. It's the default thing I look at on my phone (while I'm walking, while I'm on the phone at work, and, if I'm honest, while I'm driving), so I kept picking up my phone and going to the browser, and realizing "Wait a minute..". It was really weird to realize.
- I don't like being known for being on Facebook all the time. I don't mind people knowing things about me because they read my statuses or see my pictures - that's why I post them anyways, right? But I had someone make the comment that they "always know exactly what's running through my mind" because of it. And I can tell you that that is not true - I am very, very aware of everything I post, and I keep most stuff to myself. But I didn't like that they thought I posted so much that they knew everything.
- I get so frustrated when people post stuff about drinking, or relationship drama, or when they cuss every other word. I don't like that the things that my friends post are changing my view of them, just because they hide behind the keyboard and are totally different than who they are in real life.
- I've LOVED being surprised by things this week. I have no idea what's going on in the lives of people, unless they or I have specifically reached out to them (ah, this is what life was like before!).. Today, I was working in a small room in San Diego all day pretty much by myself.. And it wasn't until I was on my way home that I realized "hah, if there had been an earthquake in Orange County today, I would have absolutely no clue" or "If a celebrity died, I'd be the last to know!". It was a cool feeling.
There's more reasons, but that's three of them.
Anyways. Yes, I'll be back on Facebook. If for no other reason than to keep randomly posting picture from Friends, Community, and Big Bang Theory to introduce the Facebook people to the beauty of Tumblr..
I found the below photo earlier.. I think it's pretty insane..
I'm totally not against Facebook. I just needed to pull back for a few days. Maybe some people have enough self control to just "not log on".. But I know myself, and this was the way to do it! :)
Posted via email from Thoughts to fingers, for all the world to see..
