So, I spent a month off facebook. Here’s what I learned.
1. I didn’t much miss it on an emotional level. Quite a few
times in the first few days I automatically reached for FB to post some comment
or update. That went away pretty quickly.
2. I generally felt more relaxed and didn’t miss the drama
that is often present on FB. A big plus.
3. I got more writing and reading done, and watched more TV.
However, the increase in writing and reading wasn’t anything astronomical. It
was substantive, though, and was the best part of being off FB.
4. Sales of my self published items took a nose dive. I sold
exactly one thing during the time I was off FB. Generally, I sell more than
that. I have no idea about how it might have affected sales of my Wildside and
other publisher released books. A big negative.
5. Although I could have called family members and friends,
I didn’t make a substantial increase in this. I did some and that was pleasant,
and it’s something I hope to continue. However, I still end up wasting plenty
of time, just in other ways.
6. I missed talking about books and writing on FB. This was
actually most of what I did when I was on it, and I enjoyed it. A negative.
7. I missed some regular interactions with folks that I was
used to seeing on FB. A negative.
8. I found that many, many publishers and contests and other
writing related projects make FB their main platform and this was a big
negative for me. I couldn’t access guidelines and quite a few other sources of
writing information that might have been important for me. Most of this is
marketing and that in itself can cause problems for production. But still, not
having ready access to this material cost me potential markets. One call for
submissions that I missed was definitely something I would have submitted to,
and a place where I’ve sold stuff before. This was the biggest issue for me.
9. I got back into blogging and did more of that and found
that a positive. I did not necessarily have to give up FB to do this, though. I
could have simply shifted the time spent on these various activities around.
For these reason, with the negatives outweighing the
positives, I’m going to renew my facebook profile. I’ll see if I’ve lost a step
there, and let you know. However, I want to spend less time there and try to
avoid leaping on and off it a dozen times a day. If I can do that, I can
maintain some of the good things of being away from FB while keeping access to
other things that I like.
So, see you on facebook within the next few days.
