So, several days ago, I was looking at Facebook and a name popped up in my news feed I hadn’t seem for several months. Her status update was “got fb back.”

As one who has a love/hate relationship with the eternal time-waster that is Facebook, this piqued my interest. I’d noticed she was missing from my friends list sometime last summer... which is something that happens.

It’s happened to me many times. Sometimes I offend someone because I’m surprisingly filter-less with my status updates. Sometimes it’s an acquaintance I just don’t know well. Sometimes a concerned boyfriend gains access to his girlfriend’s account and performs a little house cleaning. Sometimes it’s just time for a break and it’s time to deactivate.

That was the case for her. That’s been the case for me for a while.

I was curious, and I looked at her wall... she was gone for about six months.

So, I’ve taken a “180 day” challenge that doesn’t really exist. As infectious as this Web 2.0 social networking bullshit is, can I even exist without it?

Can I keep in touch with my ladies, my friends, my family with earlier means: phone calls, text messages, email, letters?

Ok, the latter is a bit extreme... although I’ve lamented the disappearance of letter writing in the past.

Anyway, two weeks ago, I was perusing the news feed on Facebook and I realized it was time. So, I deactivated. Will Ashley miss me? Staci? Chelle? Ann? Andrea? Vania? Possibly... but I doubt it... we have each other’s phone numbers. Looking back, it’s funny how Facebook tries to get you to reconsider: showing you photos of you with your friends with the tag line “____ will miss you. Send ____ a message.”

Will I make it 180 days? I’ll admit, probably not. Should I try? That depends on if this really is an addiction to useless information on so many casual acquaintances... but I digress. The plan is quite simply this: On day 21, I’ll decide if I want to push for 45 days. On day 45, I’ll decide if I want to push for 90. On day 90, I’ll decide on going to 180.

Whatever day I sign in again, I’ll either create a new account and start over... or, at the very least, clean out some of my casual acquaintances, or hide them from the news feed.

We’ll see... in the interim, I’m just going to enjoy having that part of my life back!

What i'm listening to:

Lady
Joss Stone
Colour Me Free