In 2013, I did the unthinkable.  I deleted my Facebook profile.  Gasp!

Although I haven’t looked back once, the reactions I get are always so interesting.  Usually it’s one of these:

“Why??”  (while looking at me like I’m crazy)

“Oh, I wish I could do that too…”

“I would but I have to stay on there to keep in touch with family.”

Either it’s sheer confusion and surprise that I would dare make such a bold move, a sad confession that they “wish” they had enough willpower to control their own behavior, or a temporary case of amnesia where they forget that we all still managed to communicate with one another before the dawn of Facebook.  But any way around it, I’ve clearly put myself in the minority.

However, my decision fits in perfectly with my recent decision to live a cleaner, simpler life.  And you know what?  I’ve realized a few things along the way…

1.  I don’t miss comparing my life to other people’s lives.

Admit it, we all do it.  We sit down at our computer, scroll through our news feeds for a few minutes (or a few hours) and by the end, we’re wondering if our lives measure up.  We don’t seem as happy, busy and exciting as the people whose posts or pictures we just looked at.  When the reality actually is, that they’re lives are probably just as chaotic and stressful as yours.  But a beautifully posed photo or a perfectly worded post can be enough to send you into a middle-school-like game of comparison.  And I don’t miss it.

2.  I enjoy actually having experiences instead of telling people about them.

A couple years ago, I did the Color Run (if you don’t know what that is… it’s a 5K where you run through zones where people throw colored powder on you) with a friend.  We had finished the event and were enjoying the after party with a DJ, music, dancing and food & drink, when I had an epiphany.  Although I was still on Facebook at the time, I was already in my disillusioned stage by that point and not paying much attention to it.  My friend however was still in the highly-addicted phase and was obsessed with getting the “perfect profile photo.”  Instead of just being present in the moment and enjoying the event, she had me take picture after picture of her and was uploading them to her profile on the spot.  She continued to check them constantly as we migrated to the car and even for hours afterward – to see how many people had liked them or commented on them.  And I was like, WOW.  That used to be me.  And I don’t ever want to be that obsessed with something again!  I deleted my profile shortly after that and can honestly say it took a little while to “re-program” my brain.  But now that I am back to actually being present in an experience instead of being pre-occupied with telling other people about it, I wouldn’t change a thing.

3.  I still manage to keep in touch with friends and family.

Once upon a time, long, long, ago… we didn’t have Facebook.  Or any social networks for that matter.  When you wanted to get in touch with someone, you wrote them a letter or you picked up a telephone.  Yet somehow, a lot of people (including me for awhile) think they have to stay on a social media platform to keep in touch with friends or family members.  Well if we managed to do it then, I’m sure we can do it now.  And if someone doesn’t want to make the effort to stay in touch with you via phone or email (or in person!), then maybe you don’t need to worry about staying in touch with them in the first place.

4.  I have more time on my hands.

I used to check my Facebook profile when I got up in the morning, when I went to bed at night, and probably a half a dozen times in between when I was bored.  I had the notifications set up on my phone like so many of us do, and would have to check right away to see what someone liked or commented on on my profile.  I’d sign on just to scroll through my news feed “real quick” and would end up realizing later that I had been on the computer for 2 hours.  But you know what happens when you don’t have that temptation beckoning to you all day long?  You have more time!  Time to cook, read, write, sleep, run, go out, whatever it is you enjoy doing.  And time is a precious commodity.

5.  I can still use Facebook (and other social media) professionally.

Let me just say this – Facebook is not evil.  I don’t think everyone on Facebook is addicted to it.  But I know from personal experience, that it is a slippery slope and it can be VERY addicting.  And as I have made recent strides to live a cleaner, more simple life, I want to spend my time in the real world, having real experiences and real conversations.  But I am a writer and I do want to share some of my life lessons and experiences with others, and Facebook can be a great tool for doing that.  The key for me was making sure that I deleted my personal profile completely.  That meant an extra step of having to create a “dummy” account to be the administrator of my professional page, but it was worth it.  I no longer am bombarded with a news feed of posts that I feel somehow compelled to read and I no longer feel compelled to share details of my personal life that, let’s face it, most of us wouldn’t share with 100’s of people otherwise.

I may be in the minority now and I may be late hearing about a few life events here and there, but for me… the time and the freedom that I experience in return is well worth it.