Facebook and I are taking a break.

I have been a member of facebook since the summer of 2008. I quit on January 8, 2012.  Cold turkey.  I walked away from it early in the evening and I don't know if I will return.  I am not mad at facebook, I am not disenchanted with facebook, I think it has some very nice qualities.  Facebook is very attractive, it is not like this is a thing where I have gone looking elsewhere for companionship. Facebook didn't do anything wrong, I don't want to paint an ugly picture of facebook. My biggest problem with facebook is essentially an "It's not you, it's me..." sorta break up.  I think facebook was giving me everything I wanted out of the relationship.  It gave me positive reinforcement when I was down, encouraged me with it's constant "likes", made me feel better when I was ill, made me laugh when I was sad and "poked" me when I needed to be poked. Sounds like the perfect relationship... doesn't it?  But like in many relationships, there comes a time when you just start going through the motions, you do what is expected, you get into a rut, a routine, the spotaniety is gone and all you are left with is a sparkless relationship but unfortunately with facebook you have to face the fact that it is no one's fault but your own.  You control the content of the relationship you have with this social behemoth, you make the comments, you post the statuses and you poke who you want to poke and you chooses the players in this game.  I got into a routine and a rut with none other than myself.  I got sick and tired of myself.  I would read comments I would make and start questioning if they were the right ones or not, I would read a status and say:  "My God, that is just pandering." I realized also that as a creative person who makes his living performing and writing that it was draining me creatively.  I was getting all of the performance satisfaction out of simply posting a "witty" status and at times gave that more thought than a conversation with my children.

I am not going to call it an addiction or get harsh about how others spend their time.  I think facebook is a wonderful tool to keep in touch with people, I think drinking alcohol is a wonderful way to spend a few hours with friends as well but if you do it everyday, every five minutes and it saps you of valuable creative energy then it is time to step back and get control of it.  I loved my time with facebook and all of the people that I touched base with and who knows I could very well return to it one day, but as of right now I am very happy in my detox.  I know that I have probably missed out on some major trend or event ad many "likes" and discussions and I have probably missed out on wishing people a birthday but that's cool.  I am going to try to live without it for awhile.