So a few days ago I set my status on facebook to "Deleting facebook from my iPhone". And I did. I got a few (more than I get on any other status update) comments and questions of why. I guess I could say I didn't REALLY know at first. Just knew I should. As the days have gone on, I have grown to know why. I have a feeling I am not alone here, but I also have a feeling that many people will just continue the way I was.
Lately, I have realized just how much I checked facebook. I'll take a picture of Courtney. Instantly thinking "I'll upload that to facebook". Something funny will happen. Instantly I'll think "I will post that to facebook". I'll be at a stop light. Instantly I grab my phone and think "wonder what's going on in the facebook world". My baby girl would ask me something and I'd say "hold on, just one second...(as I finished a post to some one's facebook status). My husband would get home and I'd have a story to tell him...something I had learned on facebook. You see, I was letting facebook totally consume me!
Another thing I realized: NOTHING is private anymore. Thanks to facebook. Well, thanks to the users OF facebook. So often people are living their lives on facebook. And sadly, comparing their life to facebook friends, their marriages to things they read on facebook. But you see, so often we don't realize that most people 'fluff it up" for facebook. Of course you aren't going to read "my husband and i got in a huge fight last night. he slept on the couch and we woke up this morning not speaking". Just not 'cool' to post. But those things are a reality! There was recently a radio program that did a study on facebook and the damage it can cause in marriages, families, and even jobs. And boy to I believe it! The home is not a home, it's an open door on facebook.
Want another realization? Oh, this one is good. I realized that I was putting 100% into facebook. BUT when it came to marriage, not even close to 100%. When it came to my children, closer to 100% but still not there. Even down to my house, and being a stay at home wife, that also means my job. Not 100% there either. Now, as I laid on the couch and read a book about husbands/wives giving each other their "left-overs" at the end of the day, was I able to continue to give 100% to facebook and give my husband 70, 60, 50, even 40%? THAT was a big thing to realize.
One more, then I think I'm done...for now.
Facebook was kicking my blog's butt! So not fair! See, I created this blog for my children. "What?! For your children?!" You may ask. "One of them can't even read!" And you are right. But, they will both get copies of this blog when they are older. When I learned that you can print your blog to a book (looks like a yearbook, kinda cheesy but awesome none the less) I decided that I would create this blog for them. For them to look back at pictures, read stories, remember things we did, learn things we (Paul and I learned) as we raised them. What an amazing thing we can give them! And I have been failing them, my children, whom I absolutely adore. Again, SO NOT FAIR. As I would post to facebook, pictures and little stories I would think "I need to blog this". But facebook makes it so easy to toss a picture up from my phone, type a short little thing on something funny Courtney said that day, etc. I was getting too lazy to blog, NOT NOT fair.
Some, or maybe even all of this may seem so trivial to you. But if we are honest, if we really really honest and think about what God calls us to be as Christians, Christian wives, Christian husbands, Christian friends and Christian parents...are we really using facebook the right way? Or are we letting it consume us and even take time away from God (I did not even start to address that!)? John Piper said "One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time". I will add that it will prove that our priorities are so often messed up.
NOW. I am NOT saying I am anti-facebook. I am keeping my account. I will update things occasionally. I think it's a great way to share pictures and keep in touch with people. But people like our men and woman serving our country in a war with little or no way to communicate from Afghanistan. Like people on mission trips who are encouraging others. Or family and friends in other states who do not get to see your children daily. But not our neighbor, not our friends that live down the street! Invite those people over for dinner. Show them those pictures personally. Call them on the phone. Tell them that funny story so you can hear their laughter.
....and that why I deleted facebook from my iPhone.
