I’m Haerin Jang, and I have been five months sober from Facebook. My addiction started in seventh grade when I lied about my birthday (April 20, 1990, to be exact) in order to crawl myself into this so-called fantasy. I went on Facebook every single day for seven years until I realized what it had done to me. Yes, Facebook is indeed a drug. I have gone through withdrawals. But, ever since I have been off it, I feel better. I feel less stressed. I feel alive.
The chore and routine of going on every single day no longer exists. I’m not checking my computer or my phone every few minutes to see what people, most of whom I don’t really know or care to know, are doing. I’m not constantly updating the world of my whereabouts or what I’m doing. Besides updating the world, it is certainly easier in maintaining close friendships with Facebook, but over time, without it, I have built stronger relationships with friends I really care about by sharing a minute of my life without the need of a computer screen.
Don’t get me wrong, Mark Zuckerberg, the ingenious inventor of the social medium, has made it convenient for me to keep up with the people who I had completely forgotten. Now, I know when it’s somebody’s birthday. I know where they are and what they’re doing. I know where they went on vacation in the summer. In many cases, I know a little too much, but I’m sure the same could be said of me. We share too much of ourselves to near strangers, just like we know way too much about celebrities in the circadian rhythm within our news feed.
I don’t think, as many do, that Facebook is the root of all evil or the spawn of Satan. Facebook is only what we make it. It can be a forum we use to inform others or ourselves, to connect with those we might have otherwise lost track of, or a tool to view family vacation pictures. However, it can also be used to do great harm, like when someone is verbally attacked by cyber bullies or when we waste hours every day behind the computer screen burning our eyes out instead of living our lives in the real world.
Facebook has become a substitute for genuine human interaction. It was once a place where I could say what was on my mind, often for a reaction, both positive and negative. But now it is a place where we have many superficial relationships. We constantly see one another’s posts and online interactions so in a way, we’re “friends.” But for the most part, we aren’t really friends. We unconsciously sacrifice having close friends to have many friends, and Facebook has made that very easy for us. The expansive, exciting world is nothing but a sea of unfamiliar faces to us, but we will do anything to express ourselves in this forum for our egos. However, what’s good is not always popular, and what’s popular is not always good.
The adrenaline-pumping, mood boosting, social needs filling drug lures us in, but it isn’t worth it in the long run. The decision of deleting your Facebook can be difficult, like swimming against a current. You’re going against the flow. I mean, everyone has one, even my grandma, who only knows how to log in. But it’s controlling our lives and living as a handcrafted, string-pulled Pinocchio doll can never be a good thing.
Facebook’s purpose “to connect people with friends and others who work, study and live around them” is diminishing as we will soon forget the meaning of true relationships. We are gradually conforming to instant ramen noodles instead of home cooked meals. A quick chat with someone is more favorable and convenient as opposed to a handwritten letter or a face-to-face conversation when the quick messages clearly lack substance. Facebook is detrimental to, not only us, but the people around us, but it is up to you if you will give it up.
Five months ago, I felt a lot like Rick Grimes from "The Walking Dead," finger waiting to pull the trigger on a loved one (Facebook) that soon would turn into a flesh eating zombie. I wanted to pull the trigger because I knew it was what I needed to do.
Good luck. *in the creepy man's voice who stole Liam Neeson's daughter like why would you do that*
