This experience has shown me even more how important it was to dump Facebook.
It's like any addiction. I've struggled with them in the past, this wasn't much different. Any time suck that makes you feel freaked out about quitting is probably a bad thing to be wrapped up in.
Just the thought of deactivating the account made me feel uncomfortable. As if I was erasing the last 7 years of my life. Sure, I remembered to download all of my history and activity, all the pictures, all the witty sayings and strange events. None of it is lost. But that didn't seem to change the apprehension I experienced just before I pushed the button.
Funny too, that JUST as I was opening the Security Tab, the creepy beginning to "The Thunder Rolls" started playing on Pandora. It was like something out of a movie.
They don't let you out easy either. Once you click that little button, a barrage of friends' profile pictures show up and over each one it says, "(friend name) will miss you."
Really?
Oh and, "We hope you won't be gone long" followed up with an email reminding me that I had left.
Even through all of that, after I clicked the button I felt a bizarre sense of freedom. No more coldly checking in with my friends, in an environment where I can pretend I didn't see something. No more hours of drifting through stupid political arguments. No more pictures with comments making you feel guilty about something. No more comparing my life to others en masse. No more do it yourself ideas that I will never actually follow through on. No more worrying about FB checking my voting records...
No more cyber friendships, just real relationships with real people. And before you say "boo" to that, think to yourself, "would I rather have 4-5 good friends I saw and did things with regularly? Or do I instead want 400 "friends" that I only interract with on a computer?"
It's great.
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