I quit following ALL of my friends on Facebook

 

Have you ever thought about canceling your Facebook or other social media account? I have thought about this more than once!  Have you ever thought about fasting from Facebook, Twitter or other social media outlets for a few weeks, months or a season in your life? Well, I didn’t want to cancel my Facebook account, so I quit following ALL of my friends on Facebook instead. Yes, you read the last sentence correctly. I no longer “like” my friends posts because I can’t see them, except when Facebook occasionally posts something in my feed from a friend.

Now let me back pedal for a bit and explain to you my reasoning behind my social media madness and somewhat rant. I love social media and how it has helped me reconnect with long-lost friends, family and co-workers. I love the fact that I can quickly connect with a friend from years ago and check out their wonderful life within a few clicks; However, I am not a fan of how it steals my precious time away from me each day.

I am not a fan

I am not a fan of how I feel when I finish scrolling through a friends awesome vacation while I’m sitting at home.

I am not a fan of feeling like I’m a bad mom, wife or friend after scrolling through everyone’s awesome days.

I am not a fan of comparing myself, yet I found myself doing exactly that everyday.

I’m not really a fan of feeling sorry for myself (pride issue) which you can read more about here.

I’m not really a fan of placing labels on myself or others (You can read more about mommy labels here).

I am not a fan of  judging friends wise or unwise pictures posted for the world to judge, but I somehow caught myself being judgmental towards others.

I am not a fan of feeling left out of an activity or social event.

Freeing

I have spoken to many of my friends over the years and every single one of them told me how they knew the pictures and posts on social media were all “glammed up” and made to appear better than what really goes on in our day-to-day lives; However, when we are sitting all alone mindlessly scrolling through the “feeds” we somehow forget that it’s not a good overall picture of someone else’s life.

Well, I cannot even begin to explain how freeing it is to scroll through my Facebook news feed and only see Pages that I have “liked” instead of countless pictures, quotes, and rants that stole my JOY and TIME away. I have to admit that I did not always feel loom and gloom (Yes, I do like to celebrate engagements, pregnancies, new jobs, new babies, etc.) when looking at social media news feeds; However, I found myself more times than I would like to admit comparing myself or life in some destructive way. I can honestly say I find myself reading more educational and news-worthy stories after I un-followed everyone on my Facebook page.

Joy

I have genuine JOY back in my everyday life since I un-followed everyone.  When I do become curious about my friends lives, then I send him or her a quick message (I still like modern-day communication), make a phone call or ask my friend to come on over for a play-date. I actually just had several friends over yesterday afternoon. We had  such a great time relaxing, catching up, socializing. laughing, sharing life stories and just hanging out. I think that most people would agree that we truly do crave real, raw, non-judegemental, genuine and loving friendships more than ever.

Stay curious

You see, over the years I lost interest in having authentic friendships because I became accustomed to the Facebook / social media age.  I became content with being alone and not curious about getting to know my friends. I don’t think that following, liking or reading your Facebook news feed is bad – not at all; However, I needed a change in my life. I may hop back on the bandwagon again and start following my friends in the future, but for now I am just going to stick with following pages.

I wonder if we have traded true fellowship and friendships for a quick view of a news feed.

Not for everyone

I know that un-following all friends on your Facebook news feed is not ideal for everyone, but I’m glad that I knew when to break away from it.  I will tell you that I did not stop all social media outlets in my life because I still enjoy writing blogs, reading blogs and reading other business or creative pages on social media. I think that it’s just good to understand yourself, temptations and limits.

 

Are you a fan of social media? How do you check yourself to make sure you are not pulled into a trap of comparison and pride?