Day 6: Still Surviving!! (+ Photos!)

Ok, so we're gettin' there, and it's not too bad.  Luckily (??), school's busy, so that helps keep me honest.  ;)  I've also been trying to reach out to others (via e-mail, Twitter, and good ol' fashioned hanging out), which is a welcome reprieve.  I also met up with some friends this past weekend who are NOT on Facebook... They argued that the great minds of history probably wouldn't have used the 'book either.  Who knows??

Anyway, I've been reading more lately, and have just finished my 25th book of the year (!!), Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.* I've also found more time to go running (though fell tragically short of this month's 30-mile goal), and have gone to bed earlier than usual!

Anyway, I'll keep this quick.  Below, you'll find an article just sent to me on my Reuter's feed (which I'd seen on other sites).  If you're interested in scrolling onwards, you'll find some recent photos from real-life stuff to know I'm alive and well in this Fb-fee time!  :)

Cheers for now!  :)

Article:

(Full article here!)  :) 

And now... Photos galore!! (Well, by "photos," I mean pics of the man and me, and by "galore," I apparently mean three...)   

Gotta love Mexican food (in Korea!) on a Saturday night!  Despite what the photo may have you believe, our section of the restaurant was a-bustlin' with amigos, some of whom are also Facebook-free! :)  

Subway fun?? Also, this serves as hard evidence that I did, in fact, wear high heels.  While immeasurably painful, the Korean-esque look was hard to pass up.  The things we women do for beauty... :/

He looks like a proper teacher!! Nice work, buddy.  :) 

Ok, that's it for now.  More updates to follow, so stay tuned!  Good night, and good luck!! :) 

~~~

*Why, you might ask, did I read this book?? Well, I'll be teaching it to my 6th graders at the end of the school year.  I've now read all 5 books they'll study this year, so there's that.  

Day 3: Good Morning, Non-Facebook Audience!

A view of my little "neighborhood" at about 8:45am... Gotta love the light at this time!

Good morning on a lovely South Korean Friday!  My Fridays are back-loaded at school, meaning I'm pretty free in the mornings to plan, prep and grade (oh, and to update this blog).  Afternoons are booked solid, but so it goes.  

 Just 3 days into the Fb detox, I'm already noticing the extra time I have to pursue other interests!  For example, last night I: completed a crossword puzzle, read a lot of a book, AND got to watch "Dexter" with the man.  Not too shabby!  I'm also finding it easier to get offline and go to bed without as much hesitation/resistance.  Nice pluses, I venture to say!  

Finally, before I leave you (maybe 2-3) readers, I'll say that I feel I can gain a lot more from the Internet by generally staying away from social media.  The masses (to me) tend to be largely uninformed (which I'm also guilty of), extremely dull, and unengaged in the world around them.  We can learn stuff online!! We can watch cool, exciting, well-produced videos that actually *teach* us something new!  We can explore any topic we'd like!  We can read, read, read to our heart's content!! I feel that I stand to gain a lot during this experience, and it's pretty exciting.  Below are two highlights I've found in a very minimal perusal of the Worldwide Web's resources:

1.) A very compelling article by Noam Chomsky: 

The Boston Bombings Gave Americans a Taste of the Terrorism the U.S. Inflicts Abroad Every Day

I love the subtitle, too: "It's rare for privileged Westerners to see, graphically, what many others experience daily"

2.) PBS's amazing resources for students, teachers, and anyone!!  

This list will continue in other posts, I promise!  For now, cheers and TGIF!! :) 

Day 1: Part the Second (...and the blog becomes the new addiction)

First, I found the "stats" button for this blog.  Freaky.  In case y'all didn't know, I am able to access the following information about my readers:

Not freaked out?  Cool!  Freaked out? Me, too!  But please, kind readers, please keep on readin'!  If nothing else, it's just another site to waste your time, which is exactly what I'm trying to stop doing!! Wait.


(Oh, crap.  This is already becoming my new Facebook page....)  :/

Day 1: Losing a Loved One

OHMYGOD this is difficult... Even looking at that screenshot from yesterday reminds me of "the glory days" of, well, yesterday.  Right.  Even then, I was shamelessly plugging this blog.

Ok, it's not *that* bad.  I'm not as pathetic as this blog may make it seem... I hope.

Reactions about my "detox" from friends and colleagues have been varied.  Some (paraphrased) responses:

• Geez, why can't you just moderate your use of stuff like this?
• No self control, eh?
• I'll miss your posts! 
• Don't do it!!!!!!
• Wow.  Good luck!
• Three months is a long time. Like, a long time.  
• Oh, I definitely couldn't do that.
• Quitting smoking for me seems easier than this is for you.  
• Meh.  

So yeah, I've obviously been giving this too much thought, but maybe that means I truly am a Facebook addict.  It's weird- it's Facebook specific.  I check e-mail periodically (but not obsessively); I barely use Twitter, Google+, or any other social networking site; I don't have a "go-to" website (besides Fb) that I must check regularly... So what gives?  What about Facebook makes it so incredibly irresistible to me? And more disturbingly, why can't I just use it responsibly?  Does this suggest more sinister things about the way my brain's wired?  Is it uncommon? Is it becoming the new normal?  I'm not even usually on my phone (except, of course, to check Facebook)!  So this is a total mystery to me.   

Part of me feels like this should be an easy, fairly painless process.  Part of me is kicking myself for even trying this.  Part of me keeps wanting to log on just to see what (if anything) I'm missing!*

In my (miserable) defense, though, my "home" page looks like this: 

(Stupid, giant "f" the first thing on the list!! Also, I don't really use ANY of these sites, except for Fb and YouTube; I just started using the Opera browser, so this is what they gave me to begin with. Huh.)

Also, if this topic doesn't interest you, I highly suggest you move on to someone else's blog (or, better yet, Facebook, you lucky jerk!!).  There.  My disclaimer, not that one is particularly required; you can tell the subject matter by the title of this page!  :)  

Ok.  Focus.  That's it!  Last night while brushing my teeth, I was coming up with ways this little experiment will help me improve.  Here's roughly what I'm hoping for: 

1. More focus in my "real" (as opposed to digital/electronic) life
2. More time to spend on "real" life events (e.g., exercising, checking the news, writing, reading, seeing people face-to-face, playing the flute, practicing español and 한국어, taking a new class, joining a new group, etc.)  ... This was mentioned in an earlier post, I do believe. 
3. A more interesting life (What new hobbies can I take up?  What new interests will spark?)
4. Getting to know myself better (How will I handle this?  Will I then be inspired to conquer other problems, too?  Will I substitute this with something else, or adapt a healthier lifestyle?)
5. Better, more substantial communication with friends and family (I never thought I'd see the day when I considered *e-mails* a more personal form of communication than something...)
6. More sleep! (I'm pretty sure I was on Facebook for a good 1-2 hours+ each day during the week, and maybe 2-4 hours a day during weekends.) 
7. A new perspective (What will this show me about myself and my dependence on a fairly new technology?  What will I learn about human interactions/relationships? The world?)

Right.  So I'm obviously a lister, and I will make one final list before wrapping this whole thing up.  (After all, I feel lists are another online meme these days: "Top 8 Ways to Leave Your Lover," or "Top 5 Foods to Avoid," and so forth. 

Here we have it: the last list of this post!!!

What I fear about this experiment (and the processes contained therein): 

• That I will fail* (mainly by logging on before 25 December)
• That it speaks volumes about my addictive personality
• That I will get right back on Facebook on 12/25 and go directly back to my old, obsessive habits
• That no one will notice or care that I'm gone on Fb
• That no one will read this blog!!! :P 
• That I will miss out on my friends' and family's major life events 
• That people won't contact me as much, and I'll actually lose friends during this time
• That I will just transfer the Facebook addiction to Twitter, Google+, etc. 

Ok, that's it!  I'm gonna wrap this up (as promised!), so here is a final thought... 

Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.
John D. Rockefeller 

(From Brainyquote.com, which I love!! Find more great quotes here!!) 

*Note: By ACCIDENT (I swear!!), I was opening new tabs, and it must be hard-wired in my brain to open Facebook as one of my tabs.  I *meant* to open this blog, but subconsciously typed "F" into the browser's address box instead, hit return, and then saw the blue titlebar.  Before my eyes could process the "f-a-c-e-b-o...," I immediately clicked the X to get out of the tab.  I screamed to my poor boyfriend, "WHAT HAVE I DONE!?!??!?!?!?! I almost ruined it!!!"  I explained what happened, his head snapped in my direction, and he grinned wryly.  Whoops.  

T-Minus 8 Days... (Or: I'm a Loser.)

I'm already becoming more anxious/apprehensive about this whole endeavor... Since today was my boyfriend's birthday, I was able to spread b-day cheer via the ol' 'book... I won't be able to do stuff like that as of next week!

The most common comment I hear about my effort is: "Just moderate your use."  Well, friends, moderation's never been a thing I've mastered.  Not in drinking, not in karaoke (노래방 for my 친구s in 대한민국), not in TV series ("Glee," "Homeland," "House," "The Newsroom," "Borgen," "The Office," "Sex and the City"....), not it books (I sometimes can't do anything until I finish a good book!), not in most aspects of life.  (On the bright side, this obsessive side of me makes grading a less daunting task, as I stay pretty up-to-date on that kind of stuff.)

Ahem.

So I'm going to take the 3 months off and re-evaluate this whole "moderation" thing... I'll give it my best shot (at FB anyway), come December.  I think the 3 months away will remind me what I can do *without* being too addicted to a social-networking site.  (Like blog.  Or post on Google+.  Dammit.)

Anyway, I'll eventually try the moderation thing, but for now, cold turkey's it.  I find my level of anxiety interesting at present, as I feel it shouldn't be this difficult to let go... :/  

Ok. That's it for now... Those of us in Korea have a 5-day weekend to celebrate the lovely holiday of 추석, roughly akin to the American Thanksgiving.

Cheers!! :)

Image credits are here, here, here, and here ! :)

Preparing for Detox...

So I just watched a poorly-produced but interesting mini-documentary called "I'm Addicted to Facebook."  The link is here.

At any rate, I realize that I have trouble moderating most of my bad habits (nitpicking, drinking, posting on Facebook, etc.), so I thought I would try this effort to detox from one of the massive downfalls of my life: social media.  

I've read many, many articles about the decreasing attention span faced* by regular users of social media.  Since I wasn't able to recall many off the top of my head, I did a quick Google search that yielded this result.  And this one.  And this one.  And this one.  Hopefully the point is clear if you open any of those links.  (I've made it so that if you click on any of the links, it'll open a new page and not get you lost from this page.)  :)

Anyway, thanks to the Internet that I know and love so well, I've been able to copy and paste the image below (from statisticbrain.com, also linked above).  It's pretty horrifying how pathetically short our attention spans have become.

I will add that, as I type this, I've already switched back and forth between Facebook, Gmail, and a few websites.  It's really pitiful, it is.

THUS: My mission until Christmas becomes this: a 3-month detox from all things Facebook.  I'm nervous.  I'm apprehensive.  I'm already anxious.  I've even sent an e-mail to myself entitled "For FB Detox" with sites on them so I don't forget my favorite news feeds.**

So.  I will NOT be on Facebook from 25 September until 25 December.  That's a 3-month effort, friends, that will probably seem much longer.

Anyway, I plan for this blog to be my insights and reflections of going Facebook-less for 3 months.  My aims: to better my brain, develop better focus and mindfulness, spend more time in real life than digital, and to be a more thoughtful person.  We'll see how it goes.

For now, friends, cheers!!  The adventure starts in less than 2 weeks!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*As I was typing "faced," my brain was so hardwired for "Facebook" that I ended up typing "Facebo..." before I realized my mistake.  Yikes.

**Here's that list, if you care: