Sunday, October 25, 2015

Finally ... I Deactivated My Facebook Account

We are living in a hyper-connected world and it is quite unheard of that someone from "Generation Y" does not have a Social Networking Account.

I was trying a few months ago to disconnect from technology and go back to being a normal person, to disconnect from this fictitious life and re-connect to real life. I massively failed and I was always logging on online. It got to a point that you could say I was an "Online" addict, especially to Facebook and chatting. Sometimes I would refresh the news-feed every 5 minutes or just sit and look at my mobile screen, doing nothing just scrolling up and down!!
Yes, it was that bad.

When I first joined Facebook back in 2007, it was really exciting to reconnect with long lost elementary school friends, high school friends, and even people I met briefly but wanted to keep in touch with. But I found that on Facebook people want to add more and more friends just because it's some sort of popularity contest. They don't realize that the more Facebook friends you have is not an indicator of how popular you are!! Some people try to add you even when you met them once or even never met them! And they never try to talk to you on Facebook. Just stalk you...

This is not a true friendship, Facebook lets you to create an environment of fictitious friends, to not say "fake friends", and it helps you to know everything about them from whatever they share online. Also, you will not stalk anyone who's not active, so you will keep around you a group of people who are always sharing their life, so you can continue your "fictitious" social life!!

It is not normal that you know what is happening in someone's life when you never talk to them in person, or never met them!!

Not sure if it is just me, but I find it is kind of sad when you talk to someone and you say “Ooooh Heyyyy! How are you doing these days?” and you pretend that you did not see what they have been up to on Facebook because that would make for awkward conversation. 

And more, the most awkward scenario is when you meet someone and you think that you're a kind of best friend, you know everything about him, you feel free to talk, like there are no barrier between you, but you are shocked from the look they give you, a "wary look" to unknown people, then you realize that you are a stranger, you know this person from Facebook but he doesn't. Here you try to escape from this weird situation and go back to your "Social Network" life, where you feel that it is better and more comfortable.

This is not the best life I dreamed about, it is unfair to be addicted to Facebook so much. 

So I decided a few days weeks ago to deactivate it...

Before I clicked "Ok" to deactivate my account, Facebook asked: “Are you sure? _______ will miss you! _______ will miss you! _______ will miss you!” and I found that even more funny that Facebook would give you a last chance to stop "your crazy procedure" and come back.

But NO I proceeded and I pressed the deactivate account button.




[Update]
Although five weeks after I deleted my Facebook, I must admit, I am suffering from Facebook Deactivating Syndrome.

The signs and symptoms of this syndrome is sweaty sadness, confusion as to why the Facebook icon on your mobile is not there, and curiosity as to what people you associate with are up to.

But the important thing to know that this will be temporary and it will pass. The best treatment for it is to contact your friend or someone you actually care about, "direct" by phone or in person. Deactivating Facebook may lead to relapse and reactivation of Facebook. It may take multiple tries to rid the addiction to Facebook, but with support and in-person contact with real friend, full remission can be achieved...

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