A few years ago, a friend told me that I ‘need to get with it and get me a Facebook’. I was like why do I want to do that?

But I relented and I do believe the first picture that I posted was of a salad. (like that makes any sense in itself). Over the years I’ve posted graduations, deaths, anniversaries, colonoscopies, birthdays and most importantly the birth of our granddaughter. Which followed with a downright and unashamed deluge of perfect baby pictures of the only smiling and puffy-cheeked grandchild ever born into this world. I’ve shared and participated in political conversations and personal conflicts that should have never happened.

In summary, I backslid on something I’ve preached for years: Everyone doesn’t need to know everything about everyone, everywhere.

I’m not a particularly public-type person. But in order to participate Facebook pressures you into posting and sharing. It’s kind of like being in church and soon you feel pressured to attend some event you really don’t want to attend. But you do anyway because the church people will talk about you if you don’t.

And you bring a 2 liter Coke.

Now, probably around 10 years later, I’ve deactivated my Facebook. It took a little bit of courage to keep clicking the ‘yes, I’m sure’ buttons. One would have thought that I had signed an informed consent to have bypass surgery just to simply say I don’t want to share everything else with the whole world.

Don’t get me wrong. What’s not to love about seeing friends and family post beautiful things in their lives? But it comes at a cost of feeling the need to take the perfect picture of the dog posing in the front yard or share that you’re watching Fast And Furious…again.

Some people can just visit their Facebook accounts occasionally and that’s cool. I and many others can’t do that. We feel responsible enough that there is pressure to interact/like/wish a happy birthday, pray for the crippled child or share the fundraiser for the cat that went to sleep in the dryer and woke up circling with the towels on the fluff setting.

The withdrawals were short and had an immediate impact on my life. I find I have more time now.

I can write this blog uninterrupted. I can read a book, write a book, drive, or work in the yard and I don’t feel the need to scroll through a newsfeed. Or I can just hang out with myself and stare into space if I want. I don’t have so much information circulating through my simple mind. I even sleep better now.

Facebook is a beautiful monster. I can actually watch a whole movie now and not feel like I need to see what someone said about a post that I made. I can to go to Lowes with my perfect granddaughter and not feel like I need to post that perfect pic of her by the tile. I found that I can survive without the latest Chuck Norris meme. I can survive without knowing how much news networks continue to hate Donald Trump and how the rattlesnake was found in a mailbox in New Mexico.

I have more time to read a book and to catch up on things in my life that I’d overlooked because I was watching another FB video of a tornado destroying Oklahoma or an angry feminist protest in Washington.

Or another abused a dog. Holy Toledo, I got so tired of seeing beaten and abused and abandoned dogs. I know that stuff happens but I don’t want to see that every time my thumb flicks upward on my phone.

I also know that hemorrhoids happen but I don’t want to see that all of the time, either.

However, I’m not complete cold-turkey. My withdrawals were satisfied by having a dummy account that I can access groups that I was in and view-only immediate family posts.

I may reactivate it one day, who knows? I love parts of Facebook. It can be a very handy thing in our lives.

I will continue this blog here and have a weekly series planned. So if you want to keep up with me from here please subscribe.

I will say if Emma wants me to get one then I will. 🙂

But for right now, at this moment in my life, I know that my instincts were spot on when I was told that I need to be ‘getting me a Facebook’;

I’ve been fine without knowing what everyone else is doing or letting everyone know what I’m doing.

That’s the best that I can tell about it,

~Mark

Here’s a sweet pic of my little buddy Emma to make your day.

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