Breaking Up with Facebook

Dear Facebook, it's over....

I. Love. Summer. I love the weather, the relaxed schedule, the extra time at home. I love summer foods...fresh veggies, local berries, ice cream, grilling more often, and s'mores roasted over the fire pit. I love summer sunsets. I love going for long runs under the shade of trees and seeing the puffy white clouds and brilliant blue skies. I love the freckles that scatter across Elliot's face and nose. I especially love seeing my kids swim with their friends at the pool. Best of all? NO SCHOOL!!

I've enjoyed another year substitute teaching, but wow! It feels great to get a break. Speaking of breaks, that brings me to what this post is about. I'm breaking up with Facebook. 

I've found myself spending too much time plugged into Facebook. It can be fun to see how the people I'm connected to are spending their summer. Facebook is good for making quick plans or for me to reach a group easily. Lately though I'm feeling more of an overload of information after looking through my news feed. There are too many ads, too many suggestions for pages to "like."  Too much information.  It's time for me to cut the cord. 

Maybe I'll take Facebook back after the summer.  Maybe things will be different in a few months.  Maybe I'll change.  Perhaps that old adage "absence makes the heart grow fonder" applies to Facebook too.  For now though, I am serious about ending this relationship.  Facebook has a built-in guilt meter.  I felt a pang of guilt this morning when I deleted the app from my iPhone.  Facebook is like that second slice of cake.  You want to indulge, but later you regret it.  I'm treating this break up like ripping off a Band-Aid. One swift action and then the pain will quickly ease. Facebook was my fix.  The only way I can make this break up less painful is by going cold turkey.  

My teenage niece, Spenser, is visiting us from Ohio. She's been spending a chunk of her summer vacation with us in Virginia since she was 6. Spenser doesn't strike me as your "average teenager."  Her cell phone battery dies and not from too much usage. She doesn't even use Facebook at all (I realize too, it's not the "cool thing" for teens anyway), but I'm amazed, and inspired, by her ability to create and keep a social media boundary. I need a better boundary. 

Summer is short and fleeting. I wait all year for it to arrive. I want to savor it. I also want more of the peace I see Spenser have. I want to push myself to connect to my friends on a more authentic level. I imagine they will "like" seeing less of my posts in their news feeds too. 

So here's to summer. Forgive me in advance if I seem out of the loop because I will be.  

Thanks for reading!  Have a great summer.  You can email or call me.  And, I still Instagram because I love photos. :)  To find me on Instagram search mrsv_runsoncoffee. 

The Cool Whip Diet

Do you like Cool Whip?  Cool Whip is sweet, fluffy and airy.  It’s quite the compliment to pie.  I read a really interesting blog this week about a Cool Whip diet.  A Cool Whip diet???  No, sorry the diet isn’t to eat tubs and tubs of Cool Whip.  Actually the blogger pointed out that so many of us already do just that.  She was using an analogy that we attempt to feed our hearts and souls with something that cannot fill us.  She said, “Cool Whip is tasty, but it doesn’t really contain anything that can sustain us.”  How much of the stuff that we do all day is Cool Whip?  We keep eating by the spoonful but are never satisfied. 

I’ve been on a Facebook break, a sort of fast, during Lent this year.  My grandfather was a Methodist Minister.  He passed away when I was pretty young.  One of the memories I have of him was his encouragement to make a sacrifice during Lent.  It’s funny to me that I chose to break away from Facebook before reading the Cool Whip blog this week.  There was also a video message about the “diet” that went along with the blog.  As I listened to the message I could not help but relate to some of the things being said.  I, like many people, see what gets posted on Facebook and then find myself feeling inadequate.  I was reminded that when we compare the best parts of someone else’s life against the less than best parts of our own life, we will never feel worthy.  Wow!  How did I overlook something so simple? What I had really done, like so many others, was eaten a lot of Cool Whip.  No wonder I didn’t feel satisfied.

Now, I am not saying that Facebook and other forms of social media are all bad.  There are things about Facebook that are fun!  I love to see photos of my friend’s kids that I don’t get to see enough in person.  I enjoy posting birthday wishes to friends.  I like the links people post to recipes and recommendations of good books.  It’s just that for me I was feeling the Cool Whip effect.  I was taking in a lot virtual calories, but I was STILL HUNGRY!

I can tell you since I have Facebook fasted I have made more phone calls.  I have sent personal emails.  I have reached out to friends on a more personal level.  I have read more books, more blogs, and concentrated more on my Bible study.  I have given more of my undivided attention to my family.  I’ve also felt a bit isolated, a bit out of the loop, but LESS HUNGRY! :o)

That blog and video also got me wondering what are the other areas of Cool Whip in life?  Certainly there are things we have to do.  Laundry has to get done; dinner doesn’t make itself, but, what do we do (or “eat” rather) that isn’t filling us? 

I hope this got you thinking, like it did me.  I so want to live an intentional life.  I will get back to Facebook, but it will be like the real consumption of Cool Whip in my diet…that key word my husband uses, MODERATION.

Thanks for reading.

PS, if you want to watch the video here is a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INmvnIhzxe0&lr=1