Facebook-Friend or Foe?

I'm ashamed to say that it's been so long since I have updated my blog that I had to look up the password.  Pathetic!  How did it come to this, I used to love blogging.  I think there are a few reasons why it's not on my priority list anymore.  When my blog started, my kids were little.  And by little I mean Sophie was 4 and Michael and Emily were 5 ms old.  Sophie went to preschool, the babies napped, and I wrote.  It was a sure way to keep my sanity in those incredibly insane days. 

My days are still pretty busy, but not in the same way.  Now they are busy with two preschoolers and a 3rd grader.  That means play dates, gymnastics, PSR, Brownies, soccer, IEP meetings, media center duty, field trip chaperone.  Throw in the occasional case of strep throat, the beginnings of orthodontia, and you have one mother who is not really home as often as she would like to be.

But I do think the biggest detriment to my blogging has been Facebook.  Not Facebook itself, but rather, my usage of Facebook.  Because let's face it (no pun intended), if I can post 25 words that elicit 10 comments, as opposed to putting together a blog post complete with captioned pictures that might elicit one comment....ummmm, which do you think I am going to do??  I used to get lots of comments on my blog, but that was before FB.  Of course, I used to check many blogs on a daily basis, that was also before FB.  Now I can easily keep up with these same folks all in one place. 

But the point of blogging is not to see how many people think you are brilliant and want to comment.  My original reason for blogging was to pass on information about my two premature babies in a time saving way.  It grew from there as our family underwent some changes, and blogging became a refuge for me.  Still a way to connect, but also a way to have something concrete, something that was all mine and that made sense.  Life is so much better now, but does that mean that I should give up blogging?  I don't think so, because it still can mean something to me.  And maybe that's what I am attempting to figure out.  Yes, I know I will still share about the kids and post pictures of them.  But I am also hoping to see what else comes of blogging.  Not quite sure what direction I am heading in, but I feel in time that answer will come.

I posted on FB yesterday that I was giving it up for Lent, which began today.  And so far, so good.  I even turned off the email notifications, so I really have no idea what is happening in the FB world.  I am sure my East Cobb peeps are all abuzz over the school board's latest decision to table any further discussion about the 2011-2012 calendar.  Who knows what else I have missed, but I do know that anything really important I will hear about, in person, from people that I actually know in real life.  I am not dissing FB, but it can give you a false sense of intimacy.  When I walk into preschool at 9:30 am, I already know what my friends there have had for breakfast, what trouble their kids have gotten into, or what their schedule for the day is, because I have already checked FB at least once.   Because of this, our conversations are  much shorter, or even non existent.   Is that a bad thing?  Maybe not considering many of them are busy parents like me, and a few of them are teachers as well, trying to corral their own classes.  FB has it's place, but I was starting to use it IN place of real life encounters, and that doesn't sit well with me.

At Mass tonight, Fr. Henry encouraged us to give up something for Lent that has become a distraction to our real purpose for being here.  Something that has been keeping us from a closer relationship with God.  He talked about how we are not to become too attached to what we have in this world, that as humans our time on Earth is finite, and our main concern should be what will happen to our soul when our time here is over.   I do think that for me, FB has become a major distraction.  I check it many times a day, and once the kids are in bed, I can be on it for an hour without even realizing it.  What better things could I do with that time?  My mind becomes so cluttered with all the posts that I read, I find myself thinking about them during the day, wondering who has commented, what they said, etc.  When your child does something funny, and the first thought that pops into your head is "Wow, that would make a really funny post." .....I think you might have a problem.  Or even worse, when something happens in the life of your 9 yr old and she says to you, "But don't put that on FB Mom!"...you may have a problem.  Embarrassing, but true. 

I am hopeful that by removing this distraction for awhile, I will become focused on more important things.  Will I miss it??  I already do, but today was a much calmer day for me, and I didn't feel as scattered as I normally do.  This morning I did my WII training for 35 minutes, then ran/walked for 30 minutes on the treadmill. I still had time to shower and do a couple loads of laundry before going back to school for pick up.  Any other day I would have come home from taking the kids to school and would have logged on before starting any other project.  It really was freeing to just walk right by the computer.

And a note for my mil Pam.....I think the funniest thing Michael said today was during Mass, after we received Communion.  "How come you get to eat in church and I don't? "  The two older ladies sitting next do us thought that was darn funny.