Why I'm deleting Facebook

It is important for me to share that the deletion of my Facebook account has nothing to do with New Year's resolutions. I've been meaning to do this for a while, and right now seems like a good time to do it. Before that happens, as always, some thoughts...

It's interesting to me exactly how I'm going about this. Over the past month or so, I've been priming myself for this to happen - saving pictures I wanted, rereading through old message conversations with friends, removing the app from my phone, and the bookmark in my browser. Kudos to you if you go cold turkey, but I've learned too much psychology to be able to do that. Anyone who finds their way to these pages often enough knows that I frequently introduce blog posts on Facebook and Twitter. This is unsurprisingly where a lot of page views come from. (I can see as much as anyone that people rarely actively seek out this blog.) I still care about saying what I want to say, and I still care about those who take the time to read it, but there's just nothing useful on Facebook anymore.

I have 462 friends on Facebook, and I wish I could confidently come up with an accurate number, but I will say that no more than 75 of them are people I would keep in touch with on a minimal basis, let alone regular. Maybe I'll spend one day comprising said list of people. I will get in touch with anyone I need to - there's this crazy feature on our phones where we can speak and another person can hear what we're saying. (I've heard Snapchat is alright, too.) Anyone whose thoughts I care about publicly reading has a Twitter, and anyone whose pictures I care about seeing has an Instagram.

Here's a picture of a sad pug, because visuals.

Please also note that this post is titled why I am deleting Facebook, and not why you should. I have no idea if you should delete Facebook - that's your call. There are too many articles on why you should do this, why you shouldn't do that, how you should spend time here or there or anywhere...too many people are telling you what you ought to be doing, and the only people that should have a say in those matters are the ones you choose to listen to. Don't let someone tell you what to do, including the nature of this sentence. If you base your life off what you read off Buzzfeed and Thought Catalog, go ahead, I'm not going to stop you. (Sorry, that paragraph has been waiting to be written for a while.)

The way that I base my life is what you can read at the top of this and any page you're reading at this blog. Facebook isn't a room I want to keep going into - I have a feeling that my relationships with people aren't contingent upon the existence of either of our Facebook accounts. I never needed Facebook to stay close with those I am close with, and never used Facebook to have contact with those I am not close with. Shun the utilitarian argument if you may, but at the end of the day, what will be, will be.