Give up Facebook? Is it worth it?

In place of Facebook, I will meditate. I will log on to the social media of my mind.

Last week, I wrote a blog about my 30 day Facebook Fast. In one week I am going to attempt this social media fast and not log in to Facebook for 30 days. Like an addict, I am already fearing the worst. You can read all about the goals and reasoning of my fast in my last post.

This post is in regard to the massive support I have received from friends and fellow bloggers. I know a handful of great people, mostly from Maine, who do not use Facebook at all. I also know a lot of people who begrudgingly use Facebook. I got a lot of support from people who also feel they themselve abuse social media sites and get sucked into spending way too much time on them. I also got a lot of people defending their own use of Facebook. A lot of these conversations took place....on Facebook.

This brings me back to functionality of a social site like Facebook. While I write the blog post on my blog, only a handful of people actually come over to my blog, and even less people leave comments. I love those of you who do leave comments, please leave more comments on my blogs. But the point I am trying to make, is that actual conversations and discussions of value can take place on Facebook. There is content. There is an ability to contact people. There is an easy way to keep up with people's doings. All of these things I am fine with and enjoy. For me, I also love Facebook for being able to present my artwork, my blogs, and subjects of conversation to my friends. It's a business tool as well as a social tool. Okay, so now that I am telling you all the reasons to 'LIKE' Facebook. Now, I want to once again explain why Facebook is addictive and corrosive.

Facebook is designed to be an endless loop of snooping, mini games, and advertisements. Your friends, people we like and our interested, provide content and we make Facebook money by sitting on the site posting new content for our friends to consume. We feel like we are engaging in community or friendship and really we are just helping Facebook sell ads. Okay, we are actually communicating with our friends, that part is real, but everything is designed to keep us checking back every two minutes. The mini games are designed to make you come back each day to get a special item, a free bonus, a free spin, an every day multiplier, a little cookie prize when we return. I find myself doing tasks and immediately returning to Facebook to see if anything changed. This is unnecessary, but hard to stop. My issue is with Facebook's sheer addictive power.

When I go on my 30 day fast, I can cheat a little bit because I can post a Twitter update and without logging into Facebook, the Twitter will automatically update my Facebook page. It's pretty cool actually, and a good way to still use Facebook as an advertising tool for my work, while still avoiding ever logging into it. I want to take this 30 days to work on the 40,000 projects I need to be doing. Maybe I will even do some house chores or clean out my jungle of a car. Could I do all these things and still use Facebook? Sure. But I want my time away from Facebook to be productive and constructive. The last thing I want is to find myself spending time of Myspace instead. That would be the ultimate blow to my will power.

Have you ever considered quitting a social media site? Do you find yourself spending to much time on a particular website? What/How do you make time for things like social media and what role do they play in your life?

In place of Facebook, I will meditate. I will log on to the social media of my mind.