The Antisocial Network

It has been nearly a month since I decided to delete my Facebook account. I have always been the type of person to act on a whim. I felt like my life was constantly revolving around my profile. Due to the recent incline of social media, people can easily fall victim to identity theft, develop anti social disorders, or run the risk of being stalked by undesirables.

At work I often found myself glued to the computer screen. Not working, but surfing Facebook composing witty status updates and then waiting for an arsenal of "likes" and comments. My work ethic began to suffer, my personal relationships deteriorate, and my overall moral extinguish. I was so focused on generating publicity through the social media goliath that I had forgotten one important thing. I forgot to live my life. And I certainly wasn’t living it the way that I wanted to. I was sucked into Facebook and it seemed like I was spiraling out of control. But how could this happen? I had been a Facebook user since early 2005. Why was it becoming such an important part of my life now?

I woke up one morning and logged on. Sitting in complete silence I let my thoughts ferment for a bit and with my hand on the mouse I hovered the courser over the "deactivate account" link. It was time for a change. I was breaking up with my profile for good. The first week was the most difficult. Every time I sat at a computer the first web address I typed in was Facebook. I re-routed my thoughts, broke the habit, and conditioned myself to check e-mails instead. My friends joked and laughed. "Hey you gotta see this status," or "can you believe what this person posted?" Some were supportive others said, "You'll be back, you can never quit."

As time went on I stopped thinking about social media. I built richer friendships with the people I actually cared about. Even convincing some people to deactivate their accounts along the way. Overall I feel empowered because I dictate my own movements. There's only one subscriber to my life, and that's me.