Well, I have officially deactivated my Facebook page.  Care to know why?  I'll just share some of the thinking that led me to this drastic decision.

1.  It's a time-suck.  I can sit down with the computer and 10 minutes can quickly turn into 45.  This happens more than I'd like to admit.  I've become rather convicted that perhaps social networking is not the best use of my time. 

2.  I think I fall in to the "average" category among people in my age group with 700ish friends.  That's too many.  About a year ago I went through my list, hiding lots and lots of people I just didn't need to keep up with.  There were former students, some people from high school I wasn't particularly close to, and even people I didn't know.  I thought this might solve the problem, but I still find myself scrolling down my newsfeed and thinking, "I should just hide this person."  It became overwhelming -- if that makes any sense at all.

3.  Facebook can cause me to be discontent.  Generally, I feel good about my life.  Still, I sometimes find myself comparing even the silliest things to what others have or what others are doing. 

4.  My judgemental side comes out sometimes.  Try as I might, when I see a post I don't agree with or I think someone is wrong about something or just whatever, really, it's not uncommon for me to pass judgement when it isn't any of my business.  Of course I never comment with these ugly thoughts, but I think them just the same.  Not good.

5.  I worry that I'm presenting a "fake" Jen to the world.  In an attempt to keep it positive on Facebook (because who likes those people who complain all the time and share way too much), I wonder if I've misrepresented myself.  I post the good, but leave out the bad.  Someone who isn't close enough to me to know that my reality isn't rainbows and butterflies might think it's all good for me all the time.  That's not real.  I want to be real, that's important to me, but I don't know that I want to be really real with 700 supposed friends.  Does this make sense?

6.  I want to show my girls that it's not completely necessary to be connected to everyone all the time.  In fact, life is much simpler when you aren't.  This generation of kids won't ever know that if they don't purpose to do it. 

Now, I say all this believing full well that I will re-activate at some point in the future.  Facebook has been a lot of fun and I really am glad to have been able to catch up with family and friends I don't see often.  I've received lots of support on FB -- whether it was people praying for Lilah after the accident or just encouragement from friends.  We'll see how this goes!