Facebook Famine: Why were you so hard to give up?

Day 1: What did I do?
The words “I got this!” came to mind as I had my last look at Facebook and logged off. I thought two days without Facebook wouldn’t be hard at all. I’ve willingly gone many more days without it when I was in a time crunch, so I thought, “What could be different?” However, just coming off of a one-month break that included multiple daily visits to Facebook, it wasn’t so easy. I was shocked by how many times I reached for my phone to go on Facebook. While waiting for a friend to come to lunch – reach. Waiting for a class to start – reach.

But it didn’t stop there. It turns out I have a nasty little habit of opening a new tab for Facebook after I check my email. Who knew I went on it so much?

“Did you see the picture I tagged you in on FB?” a friend asked. “No,” I solemnly replied, realizing I missed Facebook.

Suddenly I realized, I was one of them – one of those girls from freshmen year that I made fun of for being so addicted to their Facebook accounts. Not a good feeling to find out you’re a hypocrite of sorts.

By the end of the night, I realized that so many parts of my daily, routine activities involved Facebook. I was a little sickened by this thought – the thought that I had let myself become so controlled by a site. Facebook doesn’t care how many times a day I log on, and yet I feel compelled to go on in fear of missing something. But, honestly, what am I missing? What would be so important to my existence that I couldn’t go through my day without logging on? What milestones could I have really missed hearing about? Have we become that reliant?

Day 2: Eh *raises shoulders*
Much easier. However, that day was probably a cop-out day of sorts. I had to work, so I already had no choice but to go without Facebook. So, day two doesn’t really count.

           

Day 3: Ahhhh, relief.
Usually people get this kind of moment after having to pee for a really long time, finally being able to go and you’re so happy to pee but it hurts so much from holding it for so long.

Yeah, that’s how I felt when I finally opened a tab for Facebook after checking my email. After reading through maybe a day’s worth of what I missed, I realized it wasn’t that bad. Nothing too important happened while I was away.

But, of course, like all good things, they come to an end.
Just after being content with my famine, I came across a post from my own mother.

Apparently my first niece, Aralynn, who is 6 months old, is talking.

1. I received no phone call.
2.  I received no text.
3.  I had been gone exactly one week and my sister lives seven minutes from my house, one hour away from Bonavenature – aka – we’re close.

Trust me, my family heard an earful after I applauded my little “niecey-poo.”

As it turns out, we have become that reliant. We’ve reached the point where the important milestones in life are first shared on Facebook and then shared from there.

How did this happen to us?

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