Friday, January 21, 2011

Why I Quit Facebook

I quit Facebook today. Facebook doesn't really like it when you quit...they hold your account for two weeks before they'll actually delete it. I think they're hoping that you'll log in during those 14 days and change your mind.

A lot of people have asked why I quit, so these are my three reasons:

1.  For some time, I've been feeling that the Lord wants me to spend more time with Him and my family, and waste less time online. Since Facebook takes up a whole bunch of my time online and I don't believe in doing anything halfway (except for crochet projects, but we won't talk about those) I actually deleted my account instead of putting it "on hold".

2.  I love building relationships, and for a while Facebook was awesome for that. But after a time (and please understand that I am not judging anyone else here) Facebook became a shortcut to relationships. I could know a whole bunch of stuff about people, and feel like I knew them. Did I? Nope. I had 364 people on my "friends" list and, and with most of those, I knew their online persona, not them. The truth is that friendships take time, effort, and real life contact.  Facebook is relationship cotton candy when what my soul wanted was delicious, grass fed steak.

3.  The third and last reason that I quit Facebook is that internet privacy is increasingly becoming a thing of the past. Now, obviously I'm blogging, so I'm okay with some loss of privacy. But avoiding Facebook is one way that I can hold on to a little of my internet anonymity.


So that's it! Those are my reasons for quitting Facebook. I feel...free! If you are my friend, I love you. But I don't want to find out on Facebook that you are getting a new puppy. I want you to call me and tell me all about your puppy, or your trip to Costa Rica, or your marriage.

Now to figure out what to do with all of my free time......................

7 comments:

  1. Hi! I think about my online use often, I'm not very happy with it right now. Anyway, take care and I look forward to reading:)

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  2. Oops, it is me, Sanquinetta;)

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  3. I'm really excited to know you and Red Hog Farm outside of FB which has just become a link exchange for me. I was just talking to my mom about you and your farm, and I realized how much I would love to come out and help you with one of those chicken/poultry slaughters. Jump in feet first I say! Thanks for sharing part of your life in a blog, us city folk need an outlet somewhere :)

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  4. Jennifer, our harvests are open to the public, and I'll make sure that I post about them here. In fact, our FARM is open anytime...we don't keep set hours. If you come at dinnertime or in the middle of the night, we probably won't be available to show you around, but you are welcome to give YOURSELF a little tour! Just shut gates behind you and don't let the cows out. :-)

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  5. sorry to hear this. I know some that use the Notes function of Facebook to serve as a blog. All the different systems can get to be a challenge to follow or master. At any rate, I am still eagerly awaiting your first harvest day for 2011. I have many roosters and seriously need to thin the flock. And if you send notices to emails, mine is sueheublein@gmail.com Thank you so much.

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  6. Addie and I would love to come out sometime now that we have a semi-reliable car. Let me know when the next chicken harvest or cheese making class is and I'll be there!

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  7. All very good and valid reasons! I will miss your presence on FB, but I will just re-double my efforts to come visit! You can crochet and I can knit and we can get to know each other better. =D

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