If you’re not addicted to the little blue F icon, also known as one of the biggest fraud and time suckers on the planet, then you might not appreciate the size of “taking a break from Facebook” and what that means.
At work, we are doing a health challenge. Well, I’m the one managing the process and doling out ideas & mini-challenges for us to do. Starting last Tuesday April 12th, the idea was to give something up for two weeks. Anything – health related or not, whatever, didn’t matter. The idea behind it is really 2-fold…. One, to challenge those deeply rooted neuropathways in our brains that are set on default. And two, to take a minute and think what we can do differently in work or home that would be more helpful and less bad.
So, my two weeks is without Facebook…. the little blue icon that takes a lot of time, creates a lot of noise in my brain for a lot of reasons, and also seems to be quite addictive. I deleted it from my devices so it’s not immediately accessible. I’ve realized it’s the equivalent of a cigarette break. I spent years in tobacco use prevention, so ME saying it’s the same as a cigarette break is pretty heavy. After dinner or after interactions with the kids, I go hide & spend time scrolling through FB. There are about 3 groups that I really do enjoy on there, but outside of that the rest just seems to annoy me. I’m writing this now on the 3rd day of not using it and I really like not having all the noise even though I keep looking for the icon on my phone.
On top of this, our internet was out for nearly 3 days straight. I felt like I was back in the 80s!! It’s crazy how addicted all of us are to technology, myself included. Wish me luck as I survive another 10 days without the F in my life!
CHANDRA GREEN 
Haha! Good Luck! When I first moved to where I now live (up in the mountains in a very rural area), it seemed crazy to me that cell phones don’t work here. Then we found out that we had exactly 1 option for internet and it had a 10 gb/month data cap (meaning no video or music streaming – though the connection is too slow to support it anyway). It’s been a whole new (or old) world for us, but my family now plays Yatzee and Uno together pretty regularly. We also spend a lot more time outside. I’m not sure I would want to go back to being attached to my phone.