In February, I quit Facebook. One afternoon, when I was just slightly more bored than usual, I decided to facebook stalk a facebook friend, so a friend who wasn’t really my friend in real life. I spent an awful lot time on this person’s profile page. I then saw this person in a picture with someone I really disliked. And that really got my goat. I then tried to facebook stalk the person I really didn’t like (who isn’t a facebook friend). And then suddenly it hit me: “Why the eff am I wasting my precious time on this planet in this speedy gift called life giving a toss about people who wouldn’t do the same?” I immediately logged off. The next day, I deactivated my account. I told Facebook that I would be back.

Over a month on, and I’m not so sure I will be back. I don’t miss it. Actually life has been considerably better since I deactivated. I don’t get mad about people I don’t care about because I don’t know what they are doing. I don’t miss the “trending” (very irritating), the cute baby photos or the “so and so has just got engaged” on my news feed. I don’t miss getting addicted to the news feed and having to click on articles, like things, comment or share. I do miss certain things – hearing news from close friends and family who live abroad – but it also means I have to make an effort. I have to write an email. I have to ask people to send me the photos, I might even have to arrange to see them offline. But this is also wonderful because I have stories to tell. I can tell people they do actually look great, or I love their hair cut, or outfit, because I haven’t already seen it on Facebook.

What about Living room philosophy’s facebook page? It was quite popular (in my world and by my standards, not say, compared to Taylor Swift or One Direction). I enjoyed putting up quotes, or sharing articles, and it did help with my blog traffic. But, I noticed that having a facebook page stopped people doing what I really want them to do: subscribe to my blog. I had quite a bit of traffic but little subscribers. Having the page also meant that I became obsessed with statistics – the number of likes to my page, posts, postings, photos. But to quote from the famous ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’ book :”F*** statistics! Statistics just keep you down.” Yeah, they do. So that just leaves WordPress, Twitter, Gmail and I. I will try to be more of a tweeter. I think it might be better for me because I can just ignore a lot of the junk more easily. Relying more on Gmail means that I subscribe to new sites, websites and blogs that I really like. The same goes for WordPress. And the great thing is, is that I can unsubscribe or unfollow whenever I like, and no one’s feelings will get hurt.

Where does all this leave LRP? Well, I’ve decided to be a bit more casual about my writing style and posts. I will also try to take a few more photos and perhaps be a bit more “arty”. Who knows? I will still also post my publications, because they are good.

I did an entire F*** It month nearly three years ago. I realise that I need to go back to that philosophy with this blog. To just say “f*** it” and just being open to something spectacular happening today.

Thanks for following and I hope you continue to do so.