I am starting to resent this blog. I feel like I'm on the Adkins diet and I foolishly convinced myself that carb-free cereal and pasta were great... until I realize that I hate the taste.
I also am wondering why I thought Grad School was a good idea.
I am also going on 21 hours of being awake with no signs of sleep and 5 hours worth of lectures tomorrow.
Did I mention I hate this blog? Gimme the effing Carbs, already!
Signing Off,
AGWOAF
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
Day 8: All Eyes on the Calendar
1st interesting side effect of not being on Facebook: You get a lot less attention on your birthday. One of my friends told me "You should wait one more week so that way you can get off right after your birthday!" I actually considered this confidence-boosting option, but I decided it would be a lot more fun to see who would actually remember my birthday if they weren't told so by Facebook. First of all, I did NOT care about my birthday this year. 27. Who cares? I agree with Patton Oswalt that you should only get 20 birthdays in your life! But it was interesting to see who were they loyalist of all friends. The family came out in full force, even though I think my brother needed a little reminding by my sister, since we had an entire conversation that day and he didnt mention it until much later that night via text message. Also, old good friends came out swingin'. I'd like to give a shout out to Keith Powers, holding it down in NYC! And of course, the immediate friends were there with me to celebrate. Was my day any worse because my co workers from 5 years ago didn't write on my wall? Did it put a damper on my fun that the side of my family that I havent seen in 10 years forgot my special day? Did I die without my phone blowing up every 10 minutes from Facebook notifications? Absolutely not. Its not that big of a deal. Lets move on.
A minor set back. I host trivia at the pub I bartend at. Every week, we put clues for the rounds up on the bars Facebook page, but since I'm not on, they haven't been getting done. There was a minor revolt last week when my regulars didn't get to study up before the pub quiz, so I told my bosses that they had to do it. As it turns out, I am the only person who actually cares about Pub Quiz, so again this week, it did not get done. Not wanting to disappoint the "fans" (I know, I'm delusional) I took a deep breath, and told myself I could reactivate for 1 minute to plug the quiz online. I logged in as usually, and viola! Everything was just as I left it! Wait, WHAT! She got engaged!?! I missed his birthday?! Aw, that's a super cute picture of them! Ahh! gotta stay on track! I was on a mission. I clicked on the Fado page and... NOOOOO!! Since I deactivated, I was no longer an administrator! IT WAS ALL FOR NOTHING!
I felt like a woman on a diet who binge ate out of the pantry and came-to in a pile of empty potato chip bags and a jar of peanut butter. Why did I do this to myself?
I can forgive myself for this "minor setback", as Lindsay Lohan would call it. I just have to be strong...
Oh, and an update on my Facebook experiment: It will have to wait until this weekend. As it turns out, Grad School requires a lot of work. In related news, time to go!
Signing Off,
AGWOAF
A minor set back. I host trivia at the pub I bartend at. Every week, we put clues for the rounds up on the bars Facebook page, but since I'm not on, they haven't been getting done. There was a minor revolt last week when my regulars didn't get to study up before the pub quiz, so I told my bosses that they had to do it. As it turns out, I am the only person who actually cares about Pub Quiz, so again this week, it did not get done. Not wanting to disappoint the "fans" (I know, I'm delusional) I took a deep breath, and told myself I could reactivate for 1 minute to plug the quiz online. I logged in as usually, and viola! Everything was just as I left it! Wait, WHAT! She got engaged!?! I missed his birthday?! Aw, that's a super cute picture of them! Ahh! gotta stay on track! I was on a mission. I clicked on the Fado page and... NOOOOO!! Since I deactivated, I was no longer an administrator! IT WAS ALL FOR NOTHING!
I felt like a woman on a diet who binge ate out of the pantry and came-to in a pile of empty potato chip bags and a jar of peanut butter. Why did I do this to myself?
I can forgive myself for this "minor setback", as Lindsay Lohan would call it. I just have to be strong...
Oh, and an update on my Facebook experiment: It will have to wait until this weekend. As it turns out, Grad School requires a lot of work. In related news, time to go!
Signing Off,
AGWOAF
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Day 2: Facebook in the News
Ya know, you make one decision to cut something out of your life, and suddenly, you can't stop reading about it in the news! Its like going on a diet and then getting a job at a bakery!
You, uh, you guys read about this? You hear about this? (Jay Leno voice) I just saw the trailer for the Facebook movie "Social Network" and I'm really excited to see it. If you haven't seen the trailer, check it out It looks like a very entertaining, sensationalized version of the truth, but hey, aren't those the best kind of movies?
Here are some other ways Facebook is in the news. There's THIS poor girl who got 21,000 invites to her birthday party (I think she did it on purpose. Who wouldn't want that many people at your sweet 16?) THIS idiot who got booted from a jury after posting her status as "gonna be fun to tell the defendant they're guilty"... BEFORE they trial was actually over.
Then I found THIS article which falls so perfectly into the whole point of my social experiment. It is a wonderful distraction, but for me, it was a time-consuming distraction. And when you're a full-time student and part time bartender, every minute counts.
Its still hard to not check up on the updates over the weekend, but I'mma powering through!
Signing off,
AGWOAF
You, uh, you guys read about this? You hear about this? (Jay Leno voice) I just saw the trailer for the Facebook movie "Social Network" and I'm really excited to see it. If you haven't seen the trailer, check it out It looks like a very entertaining, sensationalized version of the truth, but hey, aren't those the best kind of movies?
Here are some other ways Facebook is in the news. There's THIS poor girl who got 21,000 invites to her birthday party (I think she did it on purpose. Who wouldn't want that many people at your sweet 16?) THIS idiot who got booted from a jury after posting her status as "gonna be fun to tell the defendant they're guilty"... BEFORE they trial was actually over.
Then I found THIS article which falls so perfectly into the whole point of my social experiment. It is a wonderful distraction, but for me, it was a time-consuming distraction. And when you're a full-time student and part time bartender, every minute counts.
Its still hard to not check up on the updates over the weekend, but I'mma powering through!
Signing off,
AGWOAF
Monday, September 20, 2010
Day 1: Withdrawal Symptoms
Well, it has now officially begun. In the wee hours of the morning yesterday, I deactivated my account. The moment was far less ceremonious that I imagined, as I was rushing to get to work at 6:00am on a Sunday, but some things did catch me by surprise. First of all, all I have do it is just log in and blamo! Its like nothing ever happened. All of my old pictures/posts/friends are still there exactly as I left them. For all of the questions they asked me when I deactivated (Are you sure you want to deactivate? Why are you leaving? Do you still want emails?) you'd think there would be some similar rhetoric if I returned (Really, back so soon? Don't you think you should be studying instead? Why did you even deactivate in the first place?) This makes me nervous that I can easily return after making such a big deal about leaving. But I have already passed a few tests put before me! First of all, getting through yesterday was a challenge. After work, I started feeling awful and sick and wanted to do nothing more but lay on my couch and watch tv, which is usually accompanied by creeping on Facebook simultaneously. Have you ever had the power go out on your house and every time you go to use the bathroom, you end up trying to turn on the light, then like an idiot, you remember "oh right, no power". This is how I felt all day yesterday. But alas! I held strong!
Brother Bear (my youngest sibling and only Broseph) called me this morning and said "I just wanted to see how I can get a hold of you now that you're off Facebook." We both laughed at this as I gave him my email address and reminded him of my impending birthday. Seriously though. "How can I get a hold you". My own brother. Man.
So, here's a little food for thought. How do we define meaningful relationships in todays world? Disclosure, in my opinion, is the biggest asset of Facebook. Its a world where you know exactly what is going on in someones life without ever having to talk to them. But does that actually make us friends?
So, here is what I am going to do! I followed a lot of people on Facebook that I never really talked to at all. I am going to reach out to these people (via email) and send them a questionnaire about how well they know me vs how close they consider our friendship. There are 5 people that I have in mind, most of them I either went to high school with or knew in Dayton. I have not seen any of these people in 3 + years. I'll post the results of these conversations next week.
For now, time to actually STUDY communication instead of writing about it.
Signing off,
AGWOAF
Brother Bear (my youngest sibling and only Broseph) called me this morning and said "I just wanted to see how I can get a hold of you now that you're off Facebook." We both laughed at this as I gave him my email address and reminded him of my impending birthday. Seriously though. "How can I get a hold you". My own brother. Man.
So, here's a little food for thought. How do we define meaningful relationships in todays world? Disclosure, in my opinion, is the biggest asset of Facebook. Its a world where you know exactly what is going on in someones life without ever having to talk to them. But does that actually make us friends?
So, here is what I am going to do! I followed a lot of people on Facebook that I never really talked to at all. I am going to reach out to these people (via email) and send them a questionnaire about how well they know me vs how close they consider our friendship. There are 5 people that I have in mind, most of them I either went to high school with or knew in Dayton. I have not seen any of these people in 3 + years. I'll post the results of these conversations next week.
For now, time to actually STUDY communication instead of writing about it.
Signing off,
AGWOAF
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Where it all began
Hello, My name is Deborah and I am addicted to Facebook. As silly as it sounds, it's actually really hard to say that. I probably go on the site more than most of my friends and I am the first one to deny that I am actually addicted. But the proof is in the posts. 392 friends 383 pictures tagged, the first one being from 2005. Hundreds of picture comments. Daily status updates. My entire life is just one click away.
Last year, I started to slowly ween myself off of the site. My 25 photo albums were cut down to just 1. My 480 friends were cut down by 100 in a mass layoff. Status updates became less frequent. But as hard as I tried, I just couldn't break the cycle of checking it everyday, creeping on peoples profiles and just generally being involved in the Facebook world. It became all too consuming.
I finally started to want to make a change the day that I got married. My husband I and started feeling like celebrities being chased by the paparazzi. From the minute I was in my dress, there were cell phones and cameras snapping pics, and by the time we walked down the aisle, several of these pictures were already on Facebook for the world to see. This is one of the most important days of my life and its now being blasted all over the internet for my 392 friends to comment on or "like". I was not comfortable with this.
Then there was my college reunion. I started realizing how uncomfortable conversations are when you have to pretend you don't already know exactly whats going on in someones life that you haven't seen for five years. "So, Tom, hows your dad? The surgery go ok? And I see you got engaged! Loved the pics!"
That's when I started to realize how much this social medium has changed the way people communicate. Yes, it is a great tool to reconnect with people in your life, but are we really communicating? How does this change other dynamics in our life? Are people more likely to keep a job if they're friends with their boss on Facebook? How is it possible that on one hand we have freedom of speech, but on the other hand, a bad picture online can cost you a job or even a relationship? Do people feel any validation from the freedom of expression they have on Facebook? What about the pressure to be funny/witty/intelligent? What are we gaining from Facebook and what are we losing? These are things I plan on finding out this next year.
So, effective September 18th, I will be deactivating my account. I am taking myself out of the loop. This experiment, I hope, will not only be enlightening but I also hope to correlate my experiences with my thesis for my masters in Communication Studies.
Please follow me on this journey! Spread the word around however you can, because as of Sunday, I won't be able to promote myself on Facebook! THE IRONY!
Last year, I started to slowly ween myself off of the site. My 25 photo albums were cut down to just 1. My 480 friends were cut down by 100 in a mass layoff. Status updates became less frequent. But as hard as I tried, I just couldn't break the cycle of checking it everyday, creeping on peoples profiles and just generally being involved in the Facebook world. It became all too consuming.
I finally started to want to make a change the day that I got married. My husband I and started feeling like celebrities being chased by the paparazzi. From the minute I was in my dress, there were cell phones and cameras snapping pics, and by the time we walked down the aisle, several of these pictures were already on Facebook for the world to see. This is one of the most important days of my life and its now being blasted all over the internet for my 392 friends to comment on or "like". I was not comfortable with this.
Then there was my college reunion. I started realizing how uncomfortable conversations are when you have to pretend you don't already know exactly whats going on in someones life that you haven't seen for five years. "So, Tom, hows your dad? The surgery go ok? And I see you got engaged! Loved the pics!"
That's when I started to realize how much this social medium has changed the way people communicate. Yes, it is a great tool to reconnect with people in your life, but are we really communicating? How does this change other dynamics in our life? Are people more likely to keep a job if they're friends with their boss on Facebook? How is it possible that on one hand we have freedom of speech, but on the other hand, a bad picture online can cost you a job or even a relationship? Do people feel any validation from the freedom of expression they have on Facebook? What about the pressure to be funny/witty/intelligent? What are we gaining from Facebook and what are we losing? These are things I plan on finding out this next year.
So, effective September 18th, I will be deactivating my account. I am taking myself out of the loop. This experiment, I hope, will not only be enlightening but I also hope to correlate my experiences with my thesis for my masters in Communication Studies.
Please follow me on this journey! Spread the word around however you can, because as of Sunday, I won't be able to promote myself on Facebook! THE IRONY!
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