Facebook, I am breaking up with you…

Last night I made the decision to say “Farewell to Facebook”.

The response from friends and those who follow my journey was wonderful and very heart-warming, and there was also an element of “if you are not on Facebook, you do not exist!”

In essence, nothing will change – I will still be posting exactly as I did – and by subscribing to updates with a simple email address, everyone will receive a notification the moment I post something – exactly the same as Facebook – only this notification will be via email.

Once I bring everything up to date on my three blogs, everyone will be able to comment, just as they do on Facebook…

So why discontinue Facebook?

It is not a simple answer, but rather one that is multi-faced, has had me feeling as though I am being pulled in several directions, and has been on my mind for some time.

Here are my reasons for choosing to discontinue posting on Facebook (in no particular order) and when combined, resulted in my decision:

• I have three wonderful platforms (www.LeighStJohn.com for my personal and general business); www.LuxuriousNomad.com (for my global laptop-lifestyle travels); and www.WritingAndPublishingMyBook.com (for my writing and self-publishing) – yet for months (actually more like years) I have found my beloved blogs languishing as I posted to Facebook, rather than continuing the work I had already put into my much loved sites.

• About half the time I spend (note I said spend rather than invest) in Facebook looking through my feed is weeding out the posts about politics and other subjects of which I am not interested.

• I constantly have people adding me to this group and that – resulting in time spent (again, ‘spent’) removing myself.

• I often pour my love and life into my posts, updating my friends on my journeys and adventures, yet in doing so, I am not adding to the richness of any of my own sites but rather becoming part of the blur of a social media platform – and giving them the copyright to my material (and yes, that is a debatable subject – but a debate I do not wish to ‘spend’ my time having).

• Apart from / in addition to when I am posting, I will probably spend anywhere from 15-45 minutes a day on Facebook – that is around two to five HOURS every WEEK!  There is a lot of living I can do in five hours a week!  …and a lot of writing, and researching, and exploring… and with the international travel I do – a new country every three months (or sometimes less) image the languages I could learn if I chose to ‘invest’ those five hours a week into learning a new language!

• I am currently listening to an Earl Nightingale book on Audible every morning and evening (“The Essence of Success” – it is just over 16hrs in duration).  He recently brought up the notion of everything in life being either ‘spent’ or ‘invested’ – and that was when I started evaluating everything in my life in those terms – and for me, Facebook came out as mostly a “spent” activity.

There are a lot of other reasons for my decision, but the above constitute the majority.

Yes, there is the ‘big brother’ aspect – but I have felt that since the beginning of Facebook – and have watched it all materialize before my eyes – and participated in it…  until now.

So, no, I have not fallen off the planet – I have just chosen to INVEST my time, love, energy and passion into a different direction…

Sending love and smiles to all – as always…

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