Facing Off With Facebook

BY ALYSSA FISHER

Facebook has truly revolutionized the way people stay connected with friends, family, and business associates. The social networking site provides a fun, effortless way to communicate with others. I absolutely adore it, and I sometimes find myself mindlessly scouring Facebook for hours, linking it to

I started off this experiment completely addicted to Facebook. I wasn't confident that I would be able to give it up for a whole week.

my procrastination problem. I decided to do a little experiment to see how I could live without it for a week. The reaction that I got from my friends was not exactly what I was expecting.

“You’re not going to go on Facebook for an entire week? Even on your birthday? Why would you do that?”

I was shocked by everyone’s lack of faith in me. I didn’t think I was any more obsessed with Facebook than the average teenager. Feeling a tad ambitious, I vowed that I wouldn’t access Facebook starting at 12 AM on Sunday, October 17 to 12 AM on Sunday, October 23. I was eager to see my reaction to being disconnected from my world. To make things even more interesting, or to make me go even crazier, I washed my hands free of Facebook on the day of my 17^th birthday. In the eyes of any Facebook fanatic, I was about to attempt the impossible.

I was in agony watching my friends log onto Facebook from their cell phones every day!

I went to bed that first Saturday night feeling confident, but slightly apprehensive. When I woke up on the morning of my birthday, my worst fear came true; the very first thing that crossed my mind was who had posted birthday wishes on my wall. I knew that I would have to work really hard to avoid thetemptation to take a sneak peek at my profile. It didn’t even occur to me that I was more fixated on those who were electronically wishing me a happy birthday than the people who were expressing it personally.

Wandering around the school’s halls on Monday morning, my head was spinning. Though disconnected for only one day, I felt like I had already missed out on mountains of valuable social gossip. It was frustrating to witness my friends whip out their smart phones at lunch to type creative statuses and post witty remarks on others’ walls. I was green with envy over their use of Facebook, and I started becoming aware of how excessive my habit was. I felt embarrassed by my reaction so early into this challenge.

My crazy day was definitely worthy of a status displaying my sheer exhaustion and frustration. Typically, I would race to the computer as soon as I entered my house, only to spend the next few hours on Facebook with absolutely no purpose, leaving a lot less time to finish my mundane, yet important assignments and chores. Since Facebook is my constant distraction, I was so taken aback by the fact that I couldn’t waste my time on it that I actually found other ways of distracting myself! I watched extra hours of television, went on every other website I could think of, and I even took my dog on a particularly lengthy walk.

I was constantly (and wrongly!) accused of cheating on the experiment by my friends. They didn't understand how I was able to restrain myself from taking a peek.

Tuesday nearly mirrored this, but then the unnatural occurred. On Wednesday, I came straight home from school and speedily completed my homework. I had spare time left over and had the unusual luxury of unwinding in front of the television to watch some of my guilty pleasures. I even went to sleep at a decent time. I didn’t really think anything of it until the next day when I woke up feeling much more refreshed than previous mornings. I was still constructing statuses in my head and longing for someone to comment on them, but I soon became oblivious to the Facebook application on my phone and the bookmarked link on my computer. It was invigorating not being pressured to update a status every time I did something or to comment on all my friends’ activities.

By Friday, I was cornered by all of my peers and was ambushed with questions such as, “How is the experiment going? Have you cracked yet?” I simply shrugged and explained that I haven’t thought much about it. Despite my reply, I was still receiving accusations of going on Facebook while I was indeed just texting. Many people were honestly shocked that I had made it this far without banging my head against a wall with the anxiety stemming from Facebook deprivation. I was honestly beginning not to miss Facebook at all.

Before this all started, I would spend hours on Facebook and procrastinate on my homework. It never dawned on me that I could actually have time for leisurely activities!

My friends and family were evidently more excited than I was that the experiment was nearly complete. The end of the week was so stressful that I couldn’t find a spare moment to even think about logging onto Facebook. It didn’t make a difference to me whether or not I saw what my friends were up to. I even felt the same way on Saturday, the last day of my experiment. Earlier in the week, I imagined that I would spend my final moments without Facebook shaking with anticipation, but at 11:00 PM, I didn’t even attempt to stay up until midnight to finally check my profile. The anxiety from the overwhelming amount of information I would have to catch on up sent a rush of exhaustion through my body and I instantly fell asleep.

On Sunday afternoon, I reluctantly logged back onto Facebook. I scrolled through my profile to see who had posted birthday wishes on my wall the week before, checked my messages, and responded to my event invitations, and then logged right off.

I feel that the experiment made me more mature; I now understand that Facebook isn’t everything. I also learned how to prioritize and handle my procrastination problem. I know it seems crazy that all of this came out of a silly weeklong experiment, but it truly opened my eyes. It’s completely normal to go on Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, but it’s more important to maintain a healthy balance and avoid addiction. It was definitely beneficial, and even though I never imagined myself saying it, there really is more to life than Facebook.

I did it! I accomplished the seemingly impossible task of staying off Facebook for an entire week and gained a new, responsible perspective on the social networking site. Photo Credit: All Photos ROBYN BONFIGLIO