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Starting tonight (May 20th) begins my (almost) week-long Facebook hiatus. It will be hard fought; it will be painful, but it will also be a humbling experience.Â
I don't quite consider myself a Facebook addict, but I will not underscore my dependence on the social networking site. It's hard for me to go an hour without checking my news feed, let alone a day. This will be five days - without warning and without notifying those who are so accustomed to my undeniable presence on Facebook.Â
Tonight I deactivated my account.
Tomorrow begins the first full day of the rest of my life my Facebook Five Challenge. Hopefully, if I last long enough, I will be reactivating my account no earlier than Sunday night.Â
In the brave words of Obama, "here goes everything"! See you when I do, World!Â
It was weird. I was definitely suffering through a bit of a Facebook withdrawl. There was a persistent itch to update my status, share interesting content that I found on the web and check for notifications.
I caved. I ended up reactivating my profile for a minute in order to share my "Check-In". I was at an advanced screening of the upcoming movie "Now You See Me", and I felt the need to share this awesome experience (I've never been offered a chance at an adv. screening before, and I'm a HUGE movie guy).
Acceptance. I got over the need to check my Facebook profile pretty quickly, and came to embrace my life without it.
So what happened to my productivity? It's actually worse than it usually is. I used to use Facebook as an excuse to take breaks, but now that it's gone, I just fill up that void with other (much more) time consuming activities. I didn't expect this to happen, but it makes sense. What I engaded in was what I would call... pseudo-procrastination. I spent time looking at international news websites, reading up on the "Benghazi" scandal, looking up available scholarships, applying for a volunteering position at TEDxToronto 2013, among other unproductively-productive ventures. Perhaps it's for the better, but it definitely did not reflect a keen sense of priority organization, that's for sure.
Day 2:
Today was a mildy more disciplined than the first. The urge to check Facebook was more easily replaced with the urge to use other websites. Upon second though, I'm not sure than can be classified as more disciplined.
Productivity. It isn't better, but it's changing. I don't take as many breaks during a task, but I take much longer breaks between them.
Breaking bad. I'm watching way more shows/day than I used to. I think I'm using it as a distraction. In any case, I tend to be marathoning the show on the daily.
Clock is not ticking. It's just not. I can't believe it's only been two days. It feels more like two weeks. Ah well. 3 days left.
Day 3-4-5-6:
I guess it's over? I thought I was only on day 3 or 4, but seeing as I started on the 20th of May, and it's currently the 27th, It appears I've completed the challenge, and then some. What was originally a Facebook Five, is now, seemingly, a Facebook Week!
Reflecting back on my week without Facebook, I can honestly say that I did notice some interesting differences in my lifestyle habits: I noticed that I tended to eat more, watch WAY more TV, and think less about philosphy. I also took to Reddit much more than I usually did, to keep me entertained and current.
Pros vs. Cons:
      Pros:
Focused, sustained productivity did in fact increase. I thought more about self-development, and strived to get checklists completed with more vigor than usual.
Serenity. Being disconnected from the rush and hustle of social media for a few days was actually pretty therapeutic. I didn't have to worry about event invites, about gossip flying left and right, about depressing statuses and about how much of a better time everybody else is having on their summer vacation than me (I'm stuck in my dorm, reading 100s of textbook pages a week, attending summer school classes, and attending an intensive MCAT prep course -- it's not the most fun I've had, to say the least).
    Cons:
I wasn't much more productive than I normally would be, because Facebook was not the factor that decreased productivity the most -- distractions were, more specifically YouTube, Movies and other video content. My productivity style changed, but that was about it.
Disconnection. I have no idea how many important birthdays I missed, I have no idea which of my friends would have really benefitted from advice, I have a lagging sense of breaking news and current events, as I have no timeline to review for such content. The most damaging part about being off Facebook for so many days was the social and societal disconnect associated with it.
Communication. The ways by which I could reach people was seriously hindered by my deactivation of Facebook. I noticed that I have much fewer phone numbers than I do active contacts. I noticed this most prominently when I was forced to go to the address of a friend that I wanted to hang out with to ask a question, instead of just Facebook messaging, as I usually do. I gotta ask for more numbers, instead of asking for Facebook Friend Invites all the time. Duly noted.
So what can I conclude from this experience? Facebook makes you more connected to your networks, more current and can be used very effectively as a social tool for communication, event planning, etc. However, this comes at the expense of complicating life and its simple pleasures, as well as being "always on" for others, even when you would like some quiet time. It was a pretty good experience, and I have learned a bit more about myself. I really missed not being able to share interesting content instantly with friends and family over Facebook, but it did make me realize that not everything important needs to be shared right away. In any case, I'm happy to be done with that challenge, and reactivate my Facebook account, I shall.
