why i'm "leaving" facebook

I deactivated my Facebook account two days ago. There are many reasons I did this, but here are a few:

1. Creativity. Facebook was sucking the creativity from me. I have not blogged in 6 months nor kept a journal in 2 years. This outlet of writing through summarizing my daily thoughts and experiences is crucial to start the creative process flowing. Going forward in life, I want to be more creative.

2. Friends. Do I really have 207 friends? Not really. Friends are people that keep in touch with me: in person, in email, in mail, in heart and spirit. I hope that I do not lose contact with those people who are my true friends.

3. TMI. Too much information. Sure, it's great to know what everyone is up to, what they wore, who they partied with, and every major and minor event in their life, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that Facebook just provides too much information. I'd rather tell people what I'm up to and have them tell me. Privacy and mystery are very attractive features.

4. Success. There are a few people left in the this world who do not "facebook." I thought a lot about those people that I know and they are all very successful people who are focused on what they do. I want to be like that. (I am in no way saying that everyone who is on Facebook is a loser, but I was becoming one.) Between my job and my personal interests, I am on a computer 85% of the time, so accessing Facebook was too easy as a diversion from the matters at hand. People that are really busy and don't need to work on/near a computer may have a different story.

By deactivating, I realize I will (or should) have more time on my hands. So I started thinking about becoming a more regular blogger which lead me to think to the past year of 2009 and what a great year it has been. I looked through my photos from 2009 and here is a recap in photos:

Trip to North Adams, MA to see the Sol LeWitt retrospective at MASS MoCA:

Trip to Seattle, WA to visit my brother and celebrate our one-year anniversary:

Aaron's visit to Buffalo in May 2009 (it was this photograph that I saw of myself that I realized 10-15 lbs needed to go):

Family collodian portrait session with Jenn at Visual Studies Workshop:

My birthday in Buffalo (pedicure, cookout, sushi):

A wedding:

My plants growing very large:

A visit with Aaron in Toronto:

Theresa's visit with Nathan:

And the year's not over....