Withdrawal.

I deactivated my account and deleted the bookmark from my web browser. My morning habit was to check my mail, then Facebook, then Twitter. This morning, it still feels a bit strange not to reflexively hit the Facebook tab.

Observations from week one:

1. I’m saving time. Facebook really was a time suck. I get right to work after checking my mail and reading a few articles linked in tweets.

2. I’m worried about “missing out” on news from my friends. This despite the fact that Facebook seems to be about people talking about the weather and traffic and posting YouTube videos. All the best articles and “news” came from Twitter anyway.

3. I’m worried about “staying connected” and yet I feel less stressed out about maintaining connections. It’s ironic that having less access is making me less anxious about maintaining my “position” in my social network.

So far, the benefits of quitting Facebook are pretty solid. The upshot of this is also that I will tweet and blog more, which – in my humble opinion – are still the best ways to “connect” through ideas. Facebook is connections through past experiences and other people. It’s not as serendipitous as Twitter or blogging, where you “run into” people online that you would never otherwise meet.

And did I mention that I’m wasting less time? I didn’t realize how much time I spent each day checking Facebook. Actually, it’s embarrassing.

I might actually have time to work on the book manuscript now. Uninterrupted.

P.S. If you’re looking for me on Facebook, and we used to be friends, I didn’t de-friend you. I de-friended Facebook. If you want to connect to me, get a Twitter account or email me. Or use the prehistoric method of the telephone.