Thanks for the uplifting comments. I do know there are some great benefits to facebook, but with my addiction to the web, I guess I search for deeper relationships now. Things have to keep evolving for me to stay interesting since I’ve been dealing with people online for so long so those that I just have “stock” conversation with are kind of useless to me. I know that sounds terrible, and it’s hard to explain…I hope to be able to reactivate my page later, only it has to be when I’m knee deep in writing so that I already have something taking up my time and facebook will only be an afterthought.

PS: If anything, I’ve connected with some people more since deciding to deactivate…emails, phone calls, setting up plans with people. It’s great so far.

I spend a fair amount of time online, but most of that is reading articles and catching up on news stuff. My girlfriend is pretty good about making me unplug from everything on a regular enough basis to keep me on a pretty even keel I think. Still, I bet I could be better about it sometimes.

Well written Dani, now go write something else for us pronto.

It’s kind of like sending out that Christmas letter to relatives you don’t talk to throughout the rest of the year. It’s not that you’re pretending to care about each other than you really do, but just so that you can let everyone know you’re alright or maybe even doing well and they can say, “Aw, that’s nice,” and seemingly forget about you again until next year.

Except I don’t send out those Christmas letters lol.

I agree that many people are obsessed and/or addicted to FB and other social networks. However, I have really enjoyed becoming reconnected with family and friends spread literally across the globe and all for FREE! Ain’t this new fangled interweb thing a real humdinger?

After a death in my family, a part of my family I’ve had very little contact with in twenty years, I’ve been able to reconnect with my cousins and see their family photos and such. Are we all instant bosom buddies? No. But, one cousin in particular, who was also somewhat estranged from our clan for different reasons than I, and I struck up conversations and now communicate frequently and in a depth I have not shared with an extended family member in my whole adult life. We both feel more connected and more kinship than either of us have felt from our shared family in years. For that one relationship alone, Facebook has my eternal gratitude.

I bet I post more often than maybe I should, and like Dani I review my “wall” at frequent intervals. However, I block the farms and zoos and mafia and vampire etc apps some of my friends are gaga over. I like a little frivolous game play and down time like most folks, but I just can’t be bogged down by every sheep or silo or berry picking frenzy my pals so enjoy. Heck, I have a hard enough time remembering to water my REAL plants and animals, much less virtual ones!

I applaud Dani for recognizing her own weakness and making concrete steps to conquer them. We each should look inside and see what we spend our energies on and decide if they are fruitful.

Good luck with the writing, Dani. Perhaps I’ll be reading your first or fifth or tenth book soon!

But the true friends are the ones that find you without that easy access. Sometimes blog comments give me the same feeling. I feel like people will comment to keep “in the loop”, but how many of those people do you actually know?

Anyway, I loved this.