Addicted

Hello, my name is Dani and I'm addicted to Facebook.

I suppose you could call this my goodbye note, as I have finally reached the point in life where I feel the intense need to grow up and start having real relationships with people.  You know.  The ones where you actually hang out in person or you call them.

Facebook, although convenient in staying in touch with friends who live a long way away or are busy, really cheapens relationships and it cheapens life....  I have felt the impact in my life.  I was at breakfast this morning with one of my good friends and after a line of questioning, I realized that I haven't talked to my sister on the phone since Christmas.  It's June.  That isn't ok.  I also know that I have come to a point in my relationships with most friends where I feel more comfortable writing a quick comment to them than actually committing to a real conversation.  Not saying Facebook isn't genius in some ways.  I adore catching up with friends that I wouldn't normally call.  I love knowing things that are going on in my friend's lives.  I love looking at pictures...and Facebook makes it completely possible to get my photo fix.  HOWEVER....I'm starting to question whether it should be an every day type of thing.  Or a once a week type of thing?

I guess the biggest impact that being on Facebook has had on my life is that I feel I don't have much of a life anymore.  I will admit, I have an exhausting job.  I sometimes automatically feel like my life is getting cinched off just by the sheer fact that I come home totally burnt out most days.  But Facebook doesn't help.  I may have the best of intentions on just checking my notifications and then getting off the computer, but then I find pictures or see a comment from another friend which leads to further investigation.  I sometimes lose my focus and by the time I realize what time it is, it is too late to do anything REAL with my day.  Think of how much time I have wasted that I could be reading, running, being with ACTUAL PEOPLE, cooking, cleaning (no fun...but necessary), being outdoors.  I feel like life is so busy, but in reality I work 8 hours a day and then I'm done.  So where is the rest of that time going? 

I'm bad at making committments to change things about myself.  I will decide it sounds fun and challenging and the moment the going gets rough, I get going.  But I think this is one of those things I need to think through and actually consider as something more valuable than any of those other changes I've attempted to make.  We are getting into a really technologically driven age that is forgetting about real life and real relationships and I'm smack dab in the middle of that. 

Yuck.  It all just kind of makes me sick when I think of all my wasted time.  Or maybe that is the excessive amount of food I just ate at Frank's Dinner.  Either or.

Oh, and Happy Summer!  Finally some 80 degree weather!

And I'm reading a book right now called the Handmaid's Tale which is UH-mazing.  I was attempting to read Pride and Prejudice and decided I just don't have the patience for it right now.  I used to love reading classics when I was in high school, but I think it was because there was so much extra study put into it.  Now I come home and just want to let my brain relax, and I can't do that very well when I have to re-read every page to make sure I'm understanding the outdated language...maybe I'm getting stupider?  Oh no.