Rewind 41 days. It's Fat Tuesday and I was preparing to offer up my Lenten sacrifices. This year for Lent, I decided to go for the gusto and do forty days without my facebook or text messaging. I considered giving up all modes of communication invented since 1900, but the Pony Express went out of business some years back, so that would have pretty much left me out of luck if I needed to communicate anything to anyone more than a mile away.
So facebook was out. It wasn't that difficult; I simply deleted the link to it on my computer and didn't have too much problem staying away from it. I didn't even miss it that much. One of my friends also gave up her facebook for Lent, but she had to have her boyfriend secretly change her password so that she couldn't get it, and she tried several times in vain to hack into it.
Text messaging was a little more difficult, because I didn't actually disable it on my phone, so people would send me text messages all the time, but I couldn't respond to them. Sometimes I cheated a little bit, but only when I really needed to tell someone something, and a call would not be appropriate.
Then, on Easter Sunday (or, if you read my last post, "Holy Sh*t Sunday") I took it all back. I started text messaging again and I logged on to facebook. I spent the next three hours or so just trying to catch up with all the crap that had happened on facebook - 34 friend requests, a bunch of wall posts, 27 messages in the inbox, and about ten thousand different application requests of people throwing sheep at me, sending me flowers, asking me to adopt virtual pets, and biting me. Even focusing only on responding to wall posts, mail, and friend requests, it took me several hours to get back up to speed. It was ridiculous.
I really could do without it with no problem at all. I mean, if it weren't the easiest way to keep in contact with my friends around the country, I would have just done away with the stupid thing a long time ago. I probably sound like an alcoholic when I say things like that ("I could quit anytime I want to... I just don't want to!), but it's true. One thing that the Lenten season threw into perspective for me is the fact that I have so much stuff that society tells me that I need to be cool and well-informed - facebook account, cell phone, television, etc. - when really all I need to be cool is a few little personal skills. Now, doesn't that just warm your heart?
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In high school I did some 30-day challenge that was supposed to restrict all media- no tv, phone calls (unless important or to parents, stuff like that), no texting, internet, or even video games. And I found that after the first few days it was really easy, and I didn't even want to go back to spending 5 hours just staring at screens every day.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm really impressed that you actually stayed away from everything you said you would, for the whole time. Nice job :D
Wow! I admire you Blake. While I think Facebook is a great waste of time, I love that waste of time at school. When I am at home however, I have dial up internet and it is just not practical to check it more than once a day and I usually only check it once a week with no problems. What I really commend you on is the texting. In this society, almost everyone texts, it is a fast efficient way to communicate with people. Usually with text messages as compared to facebook, you are actually talking to someone you really want to have a conversation with rather then the 300 people you added but never talk to. I was talking about myself in that last sentence, not anyone else so please don't take offensive.
ReplyDeleteYou had the No-Facebook plague and you were giving me high-fives and everything, man! What were you thinking? If you gave me that kind of idea then I wouldn't have lasted more than a few days! I still can't go a day without the internet.
ReplyDeleteKudos on that, though! It shows great dedication to not be tempted by Lady Facebook whenever you have a few spare minutes in front of a computer. But I think that you could've chosen a more difficult topic like not eating or a dedication to punch anyone resembling Judas whenever you saw such a person.