Who knew ten days could feel so long?

It feels like I haven't been on Facebook in decades. I was hoping to get something really worthwhile out of this experience, but after ten days, I'm honestly just feeling kind of detached.  Oh, and the whole reading the newspaper everyday is going really great; I pick up a paper each day and find a new spot on my desk for it to sit for three days before I recycle it. Ugh. Amazing that I had time to check Facebook three times a day, but I can't find ten minutes in my schedule to look at the paper. I feel so lame.

On a lighter note, I did get to see my lovely friend Upma today and she showed me a little sympathy for my withdrawal symptoms.  She recommended reading another blog by a guy who tried a 30-day Facebook fast as well.
Here's some good quotes from him:

"Generally speaking, communicating via Facebook is a shallow experience. You read streams of brief messages from a variety of people, but the messages don’t contain much depth. Most are trivial and mundane. Some are clever or witty. Very little of the information you’ll digest on Facebook is memorable and life-changing. Using Facebook can still give you a feeling of connectedness, but the long-term benefits are negligible."

"You can call it social networking, but it’s not really a social experience if you’re actually alone sitting at a computer. Real socialization is face to face."

"Being active on Facebook had the effect of filling my social bucket. But it was essentially a false fill, like drinking salt water instead of fresh water. Instead of providing a real sense of connection that satisfies, it made me think I was out there being social, but I’d still be 'hungry' afterwards."

At the end of the thirty days, he decided not to go back.  You can read the rest of his thoughts here. (Thanks, Upma!)

As for me, I doubt the transformation will be as impressive, but we'll see.  It can only get easier from here, right?

-Erin