Escaping the Facebook Matrix

Facebook is the most popular and for some the most addicting social networking site on the web. Some of us can spend hours looking at photos of our friends (and some strangers, too!). While others can spend hours looking at status updates. Facebook then released an iPhone App so you could take your "Facebook Addiction" on the go. Facebook is the ultimate platform for connecting with your friends and family. In this article I will tell you why I joined Facebook and how I escaped the Facebook Matrix that I got sucked into.

Why did I join Facebook?

I joined Facebook on December 25th, 2009 while surrounded by friends and family begging me to join the site to look at pictures and just to keep up with them. I mainly joined because "everyone else had one" and also to "keep up with my family." I thought that because everyone else talks about Facebook so much I would enjoy it as much as they do. I did for a long time.

What is the Facebook Matrix?

The first time I heard the word "Matrix" used was when Spencer Pratt was being interviewed about restricting Heidi's internet access. Then I noticed the internet being reffered to as the "Matrix" everywhere. The Facebook Matrix is the fact that you can spend hours on the website looking at photos, reading/writing staus updates, chatting with friends, and leaving comments. You can let yourself spend so much time on it, that it becomes a "Matrix" on it's own; it's own little world.

Facebook is a whole other world. It's a matrix on it's own. Teenagers and Young Adults spend so much time on that website and they lose touch with reality. Talking with any of my friends, if I don't have a facebook, I simply "do not fit in" with the conversation. I think that is totally crazy, that I have to "devote my life" to conversations on the internet that would take less the time if they occured on the phone in order to be able to have a conversation with my friends. I know people who spend hours on that website and when I try to talk to these people, we have less and less in common because all they talk about is "Did you hear what happened on Facebook last night??"

The Facebook Matrix simply is the addicting Facebook platform, that sucks you in. 

How to find out if you are "addicted to the Matrix."

I quickly found out that I was getting addicted to Facebook when I began to spend all my free time on there. I spent hours looking at people's photos, leaving comments, and writing notes. I was getting just like my friends. My mind kept on bringing me back to the fact that I orginally intented on using Facebook as a "once and a while place to check up on my family." As every other person does, (I hope) I love my friends. When my friends became apart of the entire thing, I was totally sucked into the Matrix. Yesterday, I answered a lot of personal questions in my head and made the desision that I needed to escape the Matrix.

Do you find yourself spending hours on Facebook?

Is Facebook always something you talk about?

Do you use Facebook as an excuse not be productive?

Think about the answers to those questions, and I will show you how to escape the Matrix.

How did you escape the Facebook Matrix?

Yesterday, when I was thinking about the entire thing to myself, the decision to quit Facebook was the first decision that came to mind. I often contemplated quitting Facebook for multiple reasons. Let me list them for you.

1. I spend too much time on there.

2. People on Facebook act like "children" and some of their status updates are aggrivating.

3. I had to "have Facebook to fit in."

4. People love to use Facebook to start drama. (Luckily, I was never involved, but watching it was pain enough.)

5. I honestly became really sick of many of the people on Facebook. Facebook brought out their true colors and showed me how a lot of people I previously respected would die without having all the "Facebook Attention" all over them. (they basically do what ever they can to get people to comment and talk about their staus updates.)

6. Some of the pictures you get tagged in on Facebook are a little "embarassing."

If you want to escape the Facebook Matrix, start by making a list of why you want to quit. If one of the things is "I spend too much time on there", I feel that is reason enough to quit. After I made my list, I was more ready to quit Facebook than ever. So last night, I posted a status update that said.

"Tomorrow morning I'm deleting my Facebook. If you want to keep in touch with me leave your email here."

Of course, no one commented. Why? I'm a total tech geek and how could an internet addict quit Facebook? Yes, everyone I know is like that with me. I have a feeling that no one thought I'd actually quit Facebook. So, I didn't worry about nobody commenting.

This morning I left another Status Update.

"At 7:45 I am deleting my account."

5 comments.

*holds breath*

Why are you leaving facebook?

Those were just some of the comments I got. At 7:45 I just wrote "Goodbye" on my facebook wall and deleted my account. I was gone. I escaped the Facebook Matrix. I ran out of the castle with the treasure of "freedom from addiction" in my hands and I didn't turn back. Right now, I feel really good to not be on the internet for not nearly as long as usual.

How do you escape the Facebook Matrix?

1. Delete Your account.

or Option 2, for those of you who want to come back :

2. Put the website in your "Blocked Sites" list.

And there you have it, my escape from the Facebook Matrix. I hope this article inspires those of you who are addicted to do the same. If you want to quit Facebook and you have people on there that you want to keep in touch with, just get their email address. They might not check their email often, but at least it's better than sitting in front of Facebook all day!

Blog