LifeSoup by Cherie Dawn Haas

(Or, A Month Without Facebook)

I used to consider myself a heavy user. I made up excuses like, “I have to, for my job,” or “I’m not really using it that much,” or “What if someone’s trying to reach me?” When I wasn’t using Facebook, I was thinking about what I would say when I got back onto it, how I would phrase the perfect post; or what someone else meant by something, or if my sense of humor was misunderstood when I made a comment on a photo.

I was using it when I wasn’t even using it, and so it was using me (even now, as I write this).

So when I got locked out of my Facebook account, I first grieved for my connections and photos and memories. (How does that make any sense?) The tried-and-true method of entering my email address, phone number, password, and backup email address no longer worked. Now Facebook wanted my driver’s license to prove that I was me.

This made it easier for me to stop being a user. 

Of course, my biggest fears came true – a few of my friends actually thought that I had unfriended or blocked them when my account disappeared; fortunately, they found me through the public account that I use for work. There, I posted a “bulletin” to let anyone know that yes, I’m still alive and no, I didn’t cut the cord from our relationship. (And I still use that account and other social media, because it is the world we live in as writers, makers, etc.)

Without my old Facebook account taking up space with mental gymnastics, I’ve been reading more novels and magazines. I’ve spent more quality time on the phone and in person with friends and family (and am looking forward to more of this as I continue to find the phone numbers that FB messenger had replaced).

I have more mental energy to share with my sons and husband (we took a family road trip to Chicago recently – read about it and see pics here), as well as my creative writing and my yoga practice. 

I also have more time to focus on a writer’s dream – a “room of my own” – which is a studio cabin that we’re building for my work. More on this to come, I promise. 

How does Facebook and social media affect your mind, and your time? 

Wishing you peace,
Cherie Dawn

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