It's been almost 6 years

Do I really need a Facebook account?

I was wandering through my personal blog and ran across this post:

I posted this picture on Facebook this morning. I was reminded today that I quit smoking over 16 years ago. I do dream about it on occasion and talk with friends about it, too. But I have yet to go walk into the drug store or gas station and buy myself a pack or even bum one off of a friend since I quit.

I wish that I had that same willpower towards Facebook. I posted that image up there because I have not been able to break my habit. This past winter I've found myself in a vicious cycle of checking in circles. Meaning I'd check Facebook, go check my email, maybe Instagram and then go back to Facebook and start the whole thing again. I was not good for my mental fortitude. To sit there and recognize your addiction and not be able to do anything about it. I decided to do something about it. I'm not sure if it will work because honestly, I have created a lot of spaces of responsibility on Facebook, some of which I don't share with anyone else. So if I don't do it, it doesn't get done.

I created another account, with just those responsibilities associated with them. No friends, no groups, no pages, no news feed, nothing but those responsibilities. And now I will need to tell myself that they are only available on my computer during specific work hours. If they really are work then they should be able to be contained within work hours and not need constant supervision!

All of that is just an attempt to create a failsafe where my willpower has failed miserably. I prayed about this. I asked for direction, guidance, a clue even and got not much in return other than a feeling that I already knew the answer. Sometimes, life is like that. We want God to come down and give us some kind of miraculous event that will change our hearts, minds, and actions. But we already know what to do and it looks like hard work and potential discomfort. I think that's a lot of the reason that I haven't done this before. I knew that I needed to reduce the pull of Facebook, but I kept telling myself that I HAD to be there because I was viewing it as a ministry. Which though that was part of my purpose there, no ministry should take up that much time within a day.

So I'm here, telling you why I'm not there personally. I really do hope that it can be different for me. I don't have much hope left in myself, but fortunately, the God I serve has plenty for both of us.

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

It’s been almost six years since I made that drastic change. I think I’m still using that same Facebook account. I have added a few groups but really I mainly still only use it for church stuff and I have a public Facebook page that gets auto-updated from my public Instagram account for people that still hang out over there. I am in a few groups, that number waxes and wanes. Normally it wanes. I don’t love it like I did when I would run werewolf and vampire raids on my high school students or poke my neighbor and organize my flair board. I loved flair, why did that part of Facebook have to go away?!? I’m there for utilitarian purposes.

I do find that I like to waste my time on other places on the web, there’s always a new place. But something that’s been helpful lately is hanging out with ADHD creatives, they have such good ideas on what to do with your hands instead of surfing the phone webs. I’m trying to do a bit more smocking in the evenings and more journaling in the mornings. Good news is that I still haven’t picked up smoking again! And the truth is you actually don’t need a Facebook account or any social media or platform for that matter. You need connections, and how you go about making them is unique to you. I’m always on the look out for connections online and it’s probably why Facebook was the first to go for me, it appeared to be connecting me to my friends and family but I wasn’t any closer to them. In fact, I’m closer to some now than I’ve ever been because I’ve had to put in the work of sharing myself and seeking them out. It’s good work, so much more rewarding than scrolling social media.