Life Without Facebook!?

Let's start from the beginning. Two days ago a friend posted on Twitter that she was thinking about deleting Facebook. I replied telling her that I had recently deleted a lot of friends on there I never talk to or hardly know. That felt great in itself. That got my mind thinking about Facebook- and all the times I have actually wanted to delete it and move on with life. Back in graduate school- I actually deactivated it for awhile. Well I did not feel as strongly about it as I do now and ended up reactivating and spending almost all my time on there.

I have tried to use Facebook in all positive ways: to send an encouraging word to a friend, to share photos of my life with family and friends, to keep in touch, to spread the love of Jesus, to spread the blog.....

These days...I however just can't stand it anymore. First of all, it's way too big now, full of ads, and into everyone's business. Second, I don't care that they just rolled out this whole new privacy thing. I don't buy it. I know that even my deleted photos are still lying around all their data somewhere.

So today I deactivated- like I have done in the past. I even tweeted about my Facebook dilemma all day coming to the conclusion of deactivation for now. I've now sat here all night reading articles upon articles of why I should delete Facebook. I pretty much agree with it all. If that's not enough I simply prayed this morning for God to tell me what to do regarding this.  Positive He has told me to delete it.

So i've deleted it =)

For me personally, I'm not going back to Facebook.

Here is why I feel strongly about this:

1. I waste so much time on it. The Bible tells us not to be lazy. It's easier to mess around on Facebook for hours than to read the Bible, exercise, get coffee with a friend, do homework, etc.

2. Privacy concerns. I do not want all my information available to the world. Period.

3. Facebook creates a false idea of friendship. In order to connect with someone on Facebook you have to "friend" them. I've been "friended" and have "friended" people I barely know or don't know at all. I am choosing from this day forward to truly value friendship and to see it God's way.

4. My life will go on if I do not know what you ate for breakfast. That's simple enough.

5. It's so impressionable. Facebook keeps us enslaved to the comparison game. It forces you to keep up appearances, whether you want to believe that or not.

6. Facebook makes us think way too much about ourselves. We put way too much time into thinking about our status updates and which profile picture shows us off the best.

7. It also tempts us to gossip. God does not like gossip.

8. Facebook is also just shady. Everything about it seems shady. It's true. I mean I really enjoyed the movie, "The Social Network"- but..... sure don't respect the whole way it started.

9. It becomes an idol. We tend to spend more time on it than on developing our relationship with God.

Trust me when I say that after having Facebook since college (now about 7 years) this is very painful. Very painful. Especially for me... I use it all the time. Do I have doubts, yes. I'm trying to trust God though in what He is telling me and just be obedient. Will there be days when I will miss it- YES- and they will feel terrible probably as I adjust. For those days- I will just need to turn to God- as with any other obstacle I am trying to overcome.

Life will go on however. I hope I can encourage anyone reading this to take a true look at your life and how Facebook is affecting it. Do what you need to do for you.