(de)Facebooking

It is with mixed emotions that I have decided to break up with Facebook to a large (but not total) degree. I have thought about quitting all together several times, but I just can't seem to take the leap.  Everyone that knows me knows that I LOVE Facebook.  It is such a convenient and easy way to feel like a part of the outside world when the only people you see all day long are under three feet tall.  The social aspect has been a real treat in my life as a stay at home mom.  But then again, I frequently find myself lost in the abyss of Facebook; you know what I'm talking about.  It goes something like this: oh, there's a friend from high school I haven't seen in 47 years, I wonder what she is up to.  Oh look, she has a friend that I don't know, but I'm somehow intrigued and I must go look at her pictures.  But wait, this perfect stranger has a cousin that I should look at.  That stranger's cousin likes horses and chocolate ice cream...blah blah blah.  You get where I'm going with this.  Or maybe it's 39 hours of playing Bejeweled Blitz, because heaven forbid I let Sara Jones beat me.  (She usually does despite my best efforts.)  Or at the most basic level of all this nonsense, I must check for status updates every few minutes lest someone post something earth shattering and I miss it.

Having illustrated all the ways that I don't need Facebook in my life, I will say that I actually DO need it for a few important reasons.  Those reasons include communicating with my bookclub besties, my church besties, my Irish besty, and my all around besty-besties.  Facebook has sparked some wonderful new friendships for me, and rekindled some old ones.  Plus, I need Becky Higgins to give me daily P365 suggestions.  Clearly I can't go on without any form of Facebook in my life.  However, it's clear that some drastic modifications are necessary.

So I did it this morning...I deactivated my big Facebook account.  Will I survive?  Am I still a valid person if I don't have 240 Facebook friends?  (My new mini-FB account is down to just 15!)  Will I start growing a beard, and leave my family to go live by myself in the woods?  It's doubtful.   Maybe I'll spend more quality time with my kids.  Maybe my house will be cleaner (hope hope), and maybe I'll feel FREEDOM without the constant pull of Facebook distracting me from my real life.  We shall see. . .