It's time to disconnect. Just for a month...

I've been a Facebook user since 2007. That means I've been using Facebook daily, for the past five years. And for the first time ever, I'm going on a Facebook hiatus. I'm disconnecting. I realized that Facebook has become such a routine in my life...like going out for a jog, brushing my teeth and then checking Facebook, as if it were a necessity. I won't say that I was addicted to using Facebook...but my...habit became especially apparent ever since I've started my social media job. I realized how important and powerful social media is and became so preoccupied with how my Facebook represented me and who I am. So I blocked my tagged photos to gain a higher level of privacy and only gave access to my closest friends. Then I stopped uploading photos because I just didn't want people to know what I was up to. I even thought of completely blocking my albums, but decided that was too brash for my friends who wanted to take a trip down memory lane via my photos.


Because of my job, I am always on social media, thus constantly checking my notifications or private messages. Ok, now I'll admit... I was addicted. Those red notification boxes became a hit of high...private messages were double hits. And ever since my trip to Tucson, my social life has become very active. It was just what I wanted and in retrospect, it was what I needed to pull me out of my slump. But it became too active. I would say that from January to March, I was a bit of a recluse and spent a lot of time alone. And from April till now, I've been a social butterfly. After my trip to Maine, I realized I needed to do more solo trips. I missed my alone time. I was so obsessed with my summer of fun and socializing that I had completely shafted my alone time. I need time to write (like now) and do things I want to do. I've been putting a higher value on social interactions and leveraging these social engagements as opportunities to learn from others and build relationships. But in doing so, I lost myself. I'm exhausted from putting others first. I would go out and party even though all I really wanted to do is go and write or read in the comfort of my room. Or just hang out with my family. Just because I'm young and live in the city that never sleeps doesn't mean I need to live such a wild- child-NYC-adult-life and have a million friends. In fact, I have enough amazing and wonderful friends. The real question is: do I need excess people in my life who may or may not add value?

So as I was looking through photos from my weekend, I looked at myself in these photos and couldn't even recognize myself. Who was this girl that looked like me and smiled like me? I felt so disingenuous and couldn't stand it. That's when I decided to deactivate. I know my month-long Facebook hiatus probably won't mean much in the bigger scheme of things...but so far, it's been a relief to not check Facebook daily. Maybe this will even extend beyond this arbitrary month-long time period.