Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Facebook Fasting

Well it's the first day of my 40 day "Facebook Fast". So far it's going quite well. I didn't roll over and pick up my phone to read the news feed. It felt a little odd as I am a creature of habit, but I'm really glad that I am sacrificing something that's become a fixture in my day. It's going to be a challenge and I'm sure there will be temptations but I plan to overcome them.

Is Facebook really all it's cracked up to be? I see more people sharing way too much information about their personal lives and starting arguments and trouble than people using it for keeping in touch with old friends. No matter what you post as a status, someone is going to find some reason to complain about it. I'm sure people have said "She talks entirely too much about knitting." or "If I was her husband I would hide all the markers in that house." about me. Then there are the plain jane "Thank goodness it's Friday." or "I'm tired/hungry/sick/bored (and there's always the person who spells bored wrong and ignites a whole forest fire of judgement from the spelling and grammar sticklers.) and people find fault with those people too. So what can you post? And don't even get me started on the people who dissect every little innocent comment you ever make and turn it into something offensive, thus starting a debate on whether or not that was what you meant or why you said what you said. For example, I had a friend who posted a status about running on the treadmill and feeling good about getting into shape. I commented with "I went for a long run this morning, too! Good for you. All aboard the energy train! Whoo whoo!" and almost immediately there was a notification that someone else had commented. I looked at the comment after mine and it said "I think he better just stay on his WIFE'S energy train." My jaw dropped and my head almost surely spun 360 degrees. I hadn't meant that at all! I got that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach when I realized that if that's how this person had taken it to mean, is that how other people perceived it as well? I sent my friend a quick message saying, "Oh mylanta- that is NOT at all what I meant by that! I'm so sorry if that's how you took it. Not my intention!" and he replied almost instantly saying that he knew me better than that and he didn't take it that way at all. I felt SO much better knowing that no harm had actually been done and then I deleted the comment in question and went about my day. Then I started to notice that I didn't see any posts from this friend anymore so I searched for him and he wasn't on my friends list anymore. Surely he didn't "unfriend" me over that! I searched outside of my friends list for him and couldn't find him so I thought maybe he just deleted his facebook. Then a mutual friend mentioned him and I told her that he wasn't on my friend list anymore and she said "that's odd. He's still on mine." Now I was puzzled. My husband went on his facebook account and did a search, and sure enough. There he was. And then when I searched again on mine, no dice. What the heck. So he blocked me. Really? Over something so silly that was simply a misunderstanding? This irritated and hurt me a lot and I'm still not really sure why. I shouldn't care but it really got to me. I want to go back to the life before Facebook where if someone didn't like you, their only option was to tell you. Being blocked on Facebook by someone isn't a very nice feeling, especially when you didn't do anything wrong. Who needs that? There is real life to live. I'm hoping if I can get used to living sans facebook I will enjoy it so much that I will just delete my account permanently. It has just given me reason to feel awkward around people I don't need to feel awkward around too many times. Some people just take it way too seriously. Perhaps I am one of them, but I have 40 days to figure out how I functioned before joining the popular social network, and I really think that I will be just fine.

I'm going to try to make one hat each day over the 40 days of lent. Hopefully I will have a huge donation to make to the NICU when Easter arrives. I'm also going to commit more time to bible study and devotion. Maybe I'll even try learning something new. Maybe I'll take a cooking class or some kind of art class. Maybe I will not do either, but at the end of the 40 days I'm praying that I am renewed and refreshed and just overall a better person.

Well, I have things I need to do. I have to pet my cat, feed my son some lunch, and work on this pretty little preemie hat I started this morning. Maybe I will read a book. Do people still do that?

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