Living Without Facebook: a personal and social experiment

I'm leaving Facebook. For five years, Facebook has played a big role in my social life and has allowed me to connect with friends and family that I wouldn't otherwise have had such easy access to. It has seen me through the birth of my son, my marriage, moving towns, political elections, career connections and newsworthy topics. But, it has also given way to misinterpretations, accusations and judgements. I've never been afraid to speak my mind or give my opinion and while it has backfired on me a time or two in 'real life', it is no where near the amount of times on Facebook. 

People use online profiles for a number of reasons. Education, dating, special interests, hobbies, professional advancement, bullying, porn - you name it, it's out there. It also gives us the option of hiding behind our computer screens and saying all the things we would never say to a person's face. So while I am on my Facebook hiatus, I am challenging myself to reconnect with my friends and family in a more direct and humanistic way. I want to sit across a table from my best friend, with coffee in my hand, rather than watch her children grow up in pictures. I want to challenge myself to pursue new areas of interest or rekindle old ones. 

Why now? I realized today that most of the people I'm 'friends' with on Facebook don't really know me. And I don't know them. I find their posts, pictures, and comments interesting and entertaining - which is great. But, I don't know what's in their heart, which to me is the truth of a real friendship. Yesterday, I got blasted on Facebook for a few comments I made regarding a hot button issue. And the person that blasted me had been trolling my posts and comments over the last few months (or maybe years) and had compiled those statements into a character that she believes encompasses all of me. True, everything she read came from me; but she didn't have the opportunity to know if the comment was written with sarcasm, or anger, or excitement, or if it was off the cuff, or with happiness, sadness or jubilation or if it was simply a bad joke. So while I made a few casual statements in support of a 'friend', the blaster took that and everything else she knew of me from my online persona and threw it in my Facebook face. The things she wrote made me feel angry and hurt, but mostly it made me feel vulnerable. Not to mention a few hundred people were able to see it. I realized that I have put pictures of my child, my husband, my friends and myself all over my page. I've written posts and made comments that are mostly random thoughts or knee-jerk reactions and often time just simply out of boredom. I have let the world into my life and never considered how it appears from outside looking in.

So, I'm signing off for now and will return when I feel the time is right. I'll try to track my findings and progress here and will hopefully make a return to Facebook with fresh eyes and a full heart.