I Ditched Facebook: One Year Later

As some of you know, I ditched my Facebook account a year ago. (Last Friday was the "anniversary.")
I didn't make a big deal about it, because of two reasons, 1/I didn't want it to come off as "holier than thou" and 2/Paul got a Facebook account, so I still have access to Facebook.
Why would someone get rid of the best way to connect with their friends?
Because I wasn't connecting with my friends.  I realized how many times I was saying in conversation, "I saw that on Facebook."  Ugh.  Do I not actually talk to my friends anymore?  When did internet interaction replace face-to-face conversation?  I knew everything about someone, without having ever talked to them.
There were other things.
The fake.  Don't get me wrong, I try to put my best face forward in public.  But to talk one way on FB, and the other face-to-face, made me wonder which was the true story.
The drama.  I hate vague posts.  Seriously.  Just put it out there, quit trying to drum up reactions.
The gossip!  Seriously - when you post crap like that, you're begging to be talked about behind your back!  And I got tired of people talking about me behind my back, about who I chose to be friends with and how I interacted with them.
The complete, absolute time suck.  Since it's so easy to "share" - it's so easy to lose track of the time while you're reading all those articles, blogs, recipes, etc.  But I got to thinking:  are these really making my life better?  Not really.  Not so much as the time I was ignoring my kids and housework was making my life worse.  (Even when I get on Paul's Facebook to stalk him or my siblings, I could easily spend an hour on it, just by reading articles that his friends post!)  My friends are not more important than my children.  I refused any longer to ignore them to get my "I just need Mommy time" fix on social media.
What it did to my mind.  I am a person who obsesses.  I would get myself completely worked up about things I posted.  I would post something completely honest, and true to my beliefs, that maybe goes against the social norm.  But then I would worry so much about who I might have offended.  But what good is a public platform if you can't take a stand?  Or I would work myself up about what others posted.  Or who was seeing my interaction with other friends.  (Yes, I'm friends with that person.  But this other person hates him/her.  What if the "hater" saw what I posted on the other's wall?  Why can't we all just get along????)  My brain can't handle all that stress.
Do I miss it?  Not really.  I have about 4 friends that I didn't have any other way to keep up with.  I miss reading their posts, and getting those little glimpses into their lives to know how things are going, and the pictures of how their kids are growing.
And events are so much easier to post on there than to try to promote any other way.
But otherwise?  Nope.
So here's to one year, Facebook free.  And not going back!