Now that we are in the home stretch of Lent, the Facebook fast has taught me a few things. One, that I'm a poor, miserable sinner who, despite being disappointed in what I find, can't help but check in every Sunday since those are technically not counted among the 40 days. By His grace, I also know it's okay ;). I've also found that the less I interact with the platform, the less it interacts with me. Hmm. I see the same things over and over, lose interest, and put it down. I check my groups, same thing.
To plan a re-entry to (or complete dismissal of) Facebook, I've considered several options:
-disable my account altogether and do any buy/sell/trading the old fashioned way (but who really has luck with classified ads anymore)
-create a new account, ditching my old one and only befriending a very, very small number of people
-make it a rule to unfollow/unfriend anyone who raises my blood pressure, which seems silly, but part of my addiction to Facebook involves getting riled up about people who say stuff like "we did Black people a favor when we brought them over to 'Murica." Serious face palms like that are hurting my head. And I can't engage in every such argument that comes up, or, as shown by previous experience, my real life family and friends suffer.
-check in once a day for a short amount of time. This seems like the most doable option, but it will involve self-control on my part, which I struggle with in the areas of Facebook and desserts.
-ditch the smart phone altogether and get a flip phone. This would be probably the best option, but our only option for quality Internet is through our smart phones, so that would be an unwelcome impediment upon several areas of life.
I think that the short daily check-in, coupled with the following, is going to be the best bet.
-only check groups that are relevant to my real, in-person life. Those would be home school and theology groups (though the latter can be maddening at times).
-NEVER read the comments on any ad that shows up in my news feed.
