Summer without Facebook. Why did I give up Facebook, sell my profiles and choose work instead?
This article was written by Danielius, the most read self-development blog in Lithuania - Debesyla.lt - the author.
Few inventions have invaded our lives as quickly as Facebook. Even smartphones with touchscreens (…or who could use any!?) faced resistance from fans of the push-button Nokia 3310.
What about Facebook?
- Facebook rules, says some marketers.
- "Facebook is very good for our community," my neighbors say.
- "Facebook helps you find parties," says a barista at a local coffee shop.
- "Facebook is a great photo archive," says my friend.
- Facebook is irreplaceable, I once said.
No, I won't try to deny it. Facebook is a really useful tool. You can do so much with it! There are few modern applications that provide so many benefits (probably) for free.
But Facebook is not for everyone. I realized that he is not for me.
Well, isn't it enough for me that I would like to stop by every day and spend 1-2 hours, how much are you likely to spend right now. (You can try one of these techniques and see how accurate your number is).
In the summer of 2018 – I have completely disconnected from this social network.
Here's what happened.
Nothing happened.
I felt zero difference in the first few days. Maybe because:
- I left Facebook Messenger and still use it (he doesn't need a Facebook account);
- With Google Chrome's Adblock, I only hid Facebook walls, not all of them <body></body>, and I didn't block with mine Cold Turkey all *.facebook.com/*, so the "Login with Facebook" buttons still worked for the rest of the internet;
- All in all, I still had full internet left (which I used as much as before);
- I put my Facebook groups, pages, and the devil on vacation or immediately gave them to volunteer colleagues.
I was sitting. I enjoyed the summer. I Instagrammed stories. I have instagrammed a lot of these.
Then I started to feel…
Have you ever seen Westworld (2016)? At one point I started to feel like Maeve. Something was wrong, but I couldn't feel it…
I started to feel… The back of my head? Maybe this is how I can describe this feeling?
Like during some kind of meditation - I felt something. I didn't tie it then. I thought it was just an effect of the wonderful summer of 2018. The sun, the fresh air, the chirping of grasshoppers...
Lightness.
I worked.
I wrote and updated articles - a mountain of them, I promoted my training platform ONBO, I was working on a new book.
The lightness is not gone. I even started get up earlier again. My daily routine and goals have become as transparent and clear as they haven't been in a long time. (If they ever were.)
...And yes, I myself feel that when I speak, it is as if Jesus himself had appeared to me and said "You know, Daniel, you are quite a tough dude, I would like to be in your place."
But… It just was. Easier than usual.
After a while... Dashuto.
However, a few things happened after ditching the Facebook network:
- My attention was not captured by insignificant experiences. When you scroll through the Facebook wall, you often don't even notice what you're reading. And there - "I drank delicious coffee today", "The politician said nonsense, how unexpected", "Look what a meme I found" and a mountain... No, pala, we need bigger letters... MOUNTAIN of advertising. It's not a problem. But it will all go away. Most importantly - definitely faster than you. Facebook is not a portal for ideas or works. If you want ideas - go to Behance or Product Hunt, if you want jobs - LinkedIn. For quality photos - Instagram. And if you want more information - Facebook. Pletka manages Facebook. Even more serious discussions about X or Y, under Oleg Shurayev's wall or in Facebook groups - even those do not reach at least Hacker news level. At least Reddit, gods. It's true, pletka is not bad! No! But they are not for me. Just. Personally. I feel a great fear of death, existential emptiness, loneliness - so I want to focus on what will last longer. Maybe you too?
- So I started focusing on OTHER trivial experiences. To the sunlight, the warmth that warms the back of my head, the wind between my hairy legs, the evening orchestra of grasshoppers, the blossoming of flowers and the ripening of pears. It is unlikely that the living nature and people around you provide enormous benefits. This is also not a very useful activity - observation. But the sun, birds, ants and wind give strength. When Facebook takes away strength. Inferior experiences are not worthless. And they are not bad. Basically, all of our lives are worthless. It remains - how do you enjoy it? It's just that when I have to choose between stewing in the sun and stewing in Facebook, I'll choose the sun. At least I found it more enjoyable that way.
- Magically, there was time for laziness. As you probably already know - being lazy is good. That's what I did. i instagrammed I drew comics, I blogged for friends, played games, and traveled to fests. Maybe those 1-2 hours on Facebook magically turned into 1-2 free hours for things I've wanted to do for a long time. How unexpected? Funny, but I seriously didn't expect it. I just didn't think. It wasn't until the end of the summer, when the effects were already there, that I realized that somehow I had more time than before. Now I'm thinking that maybe earlier I should have learned less time management techniques and more attention management - not giving it to something that doesn't help.
It's autumn now.
And getting back on Facebook… Well, I don't know. Maybe I'll come back. Probably so - I missed my investors and friends' mental health self-support groups.
But I'm hardly going to do anything with my wall, post on it or take care of the image for such a meaningless (to me) network like Facebook. I've just given my business pages to people who enjoy being on Facebook.
By the way, you can try it too.
Can block Facebook with adblock, Cold Turkey or with this plugin for the Chrome browser. If you don't like it, you can return with one click. Maybe you like Facebook. And that is good. I'm not saying you're bad or anything. Just doing this experiment made me realize that facebook is not for me.
...And if you feel that you too have the idea that the world is wider than it seems... Hey, well. Let's be without Facebook together!
Write a comment what you think!
And will you try, at least for a week, to join such a challenge?
Fresher heads,
