For most of this year, at least once a month, I have a conversation with someone about how much I dislike using Facebook. Now, I’m not saying there are no benefits to using it; for example I advertise my blog; I read and watch interesting data and I find interesting ideas.

But there’s something about it that drives me nutty…It kills my interest in connecting with people.

What?

Yes, exactly that.

1. I become overwhelmed with the amount of information I receive, even after unfollowing people (Yes, that is an option and Yes, I use it).
2. Why should I feel the need to contact you if I already “know” what’s happening in your life? This leads to a bigger problem – the assumption that I know what’s going on because of a post, photo or comment. And it works both ways. Why should I be contacted if you “know” what’s happening in my life? I used to think that If I was interested I would ask (okay, once I’ve gotten over the “am I being too inquisitive/is it okay to ask” questions – “screw it, we friends, I can ask”).

I went through a period recently of posting nearly every day because I was bored or because I was avoiding studying. And now I cringe at the thought of having to see those posts in my “on this day” feed next year.

So, why am I going on about this?

Because last weekend I was human. Busy being human by actually seeing people face to face. Friends that I kept promising to see but just never got round to it and using the excuse, “Oh, their Facebook posts show no signs of them not being okay so they must be okay”. I was busy having a 5 hour lunch laughing so much that we didn’t realise lunch time had become supper time. Busy the next day with a hike. And before that weekend I was busy spending time with my sisters at home. And it clicked. This is what I felt like Facebook/ social media was replacing and it really cannot. I like being busy. Real busy. Not virtual busy. I might be an introvert in my natural state but I love spending time with people who bring so much joy to my life. And yes, I thought about posting photos on Facebook and sharing it all, but to be honest, I preferred keeping most of it to myself. Not because I don’t want to tell anyone but because I loved telling my other close ones how much fun I had, in person. I shared what I wanted with some of the people I wanted to share it with. Second click. I actually miss my privacy. In fact, I miss it so much that I thought of re-doing this paragraph but then realised that I needed to type this paragraph to prove my point.

So why am I saying all of this? Am I really going to stop using social media? Probably not. But what do I hope to use it in future for? Answer: Advertising my blog.

So here’s to a year of not seeing much of me on Facebook and to me not having to see much of Facebook. I know I’ll be too busy seeing you in person 🙂