Quiting Facebook? Hard But Doable

I’m thinking of setting a website for folks who wanna quit social media like Facebook, for whatever reasons that are yours, and this way, we can kinda support each other through the process.  Then I thought “why, that would be like a social thing occurring online which in and of itself is a media”.

So, no.  Instead, I’m gonna go through it myself and share whatever anxiety that I may feel during the whole process.  I’ve quit Facebook two other times and its for the same reason as this third time:  Facebook is just fraking with the users.

In the latest episode, they purposefully changed your e-mail without tell us.  Why, Zuckerberg?

Then there’s the Facebook-sanctioned stalking app.  I’m sure if it is used in the right way, it can be fun and engaging.  However, as with any tool, it can be used in dark ways.  Now, when Google unveiled it’s Buzz and Wave products that allow tracking and opened up many privacy issues, there was a huge media storm.  So, Facebook should have known better than to try this in such a way.  What Google did was stupid and what Facebook more stupid is that it thinks it can get away with the same exact play.

Quitting something like Facebook isn’t easy.  For even moderate users, there is an emotional attachment to it.  I know folks who don’t necessarily post but they do check on it daily.  It’s become a norm.  I do check just about every day and post about every other day and half of the time, I’ve got something unkind to relay about Facebook and reasons why my friends should switch over to Google+.

And with my decision to quit yet again, I felt a slightly elevated level of anxiety.  Okay, I lied – quite a bit more because I’ve met new friends on Facebook recently.  So, I went for a run and that helped.  And I’m gonna go through with it.

First thing I did was to change the password in such a way that made it very difficult to remember.  Then I logged out of all the apps so I would not have access on my phone or tablet.  And in leaving the password at home, I can’t log in.

How am I feeling now?  The 5-4 SCOTUS on the President’s healthcare law has kept me pretty amped up so far and deciding if I should get the Nexus 7 has been weighing on my mind so I’ve been pretty occupied.

I’ll document how I feel over the next few days.  My deadline to officially quit Facebook starts midnight on Monday, just after the weekend.  That’ll give me time to prep emotionally and move onto other things.  Maybe after that, I’ll have more time to trash Facebook.

I am a very sociable creature that craves interaction with others – be it in person or online.  It’ll be hard (especially since I met a cute model/fashion designer on FB – though we’re not close enough for exchange of real personal info), but it’s doable.