Killing Facebook

I have been a user of Facebook for around nine years. And during that time, I have logged in to it almost every day, which, when you think about it, is just crazy! I remember being skeptical about it and avoided getting it for a while to begin with (because I had MySpace and why did I need both?!!), but then I finally opened an account and since then, I was hooked. 

I'm not one of these internet obsessed people and I try to spend my time online in a meaningful manner and with purpose, but perhaps more recently, I have found myself slipping into the habit of aimless scrolling. I admit this probably has something to do with me feeling a bit down/ frustrated due to me being unemployed and I haven't been feeling all that creative anyway, but Facebook has almost become the default.

When I was young and up until when I left home at eighteen (and even my first year living alone), I didn't have internet access in my home and my default then was to do a drawing (or similar, but whenever I was bored, it was "do a drawing" from both my parents(!), and that's what I did). I'd like to go back to that mindset, because creativity fuels creativity and I'd class myself as a creative, so why am I not creating?

I logged out of Facebook on all of my devices about one week ago now and have not yet felt the need to log back in. I still currently have the Messenger app on my phone, but limiting the times I look at my messages and don't have notifications turned on either. This also applies to text messaging and Whatsapp. I am now in control of when I choose to receive messages, rather than the messages controlling me. This allows me to make better/ more productive use of my time and when I'm doing something (say drawing, for example), then I'm doing drawing and when I'm doing some animating, I'm doing animating and so on and so on...

Don't get me wrong, Facebook isn't all bad- it's a good free marketing tool and also a free and quick way to contact people who you don't get to see very often, but then what's the point in free marketing if I've nothing to market, because I've been too busy online and not spending enough time making stuff?

I also feel it's more of an anti-social network. The more time you spend on Facebook, the less time you spend seeing people in real life and put less time and effort into real life friendships, which I think is sad (because life is real!), along with the reduction of social skills. People are actually ok(!) and I think I'll begin to realise this more when I start meeting up with people in the flesh!

For now, I'll stick with the using Facebook-just-for-Messenger thing, but I think soon, I'll let go of it completely. I am still using Twitter and Instagram for now also... These two social networks (for me) feel like less of an obligation or tie- I can basically just post something and leave it at that, without worrying about likes or comments.

Let me know your thoughts below!