Lenten Reflections

For Lent this year, I decided to give up the usual, desserts.  But last year I read an interesting article about christians who give up something more techno, like the internet or Facebook.  I found it intriguing at the time and shared it with an old college friend, Jenn.  We decided last year that a Facebook fast would be our goal for 2010.  I kind of forgot about it, and then mentioned it to Jenn in January and she was still game, so we went for it.  I tried to be responsible about my Facebook hiatus, giving everyone a heads up, selling the fish in my virtual Fishville aquarium so they wouldn't die, removing the app from my phone, etc. etc.

The fast is over, and post Lent, I am about 5 pounds lighter thanks to the lack of dessert and I was surprised at how easy it was to quit Facebook cold turkey.  In fact, I came to enjoy the simplicity.  I didn't realize how much time I was spending in the land of social networking, especially in the evenings as the day was winding down.  When Easter came, I logged in for the first time in 40 days and was OVERWHELMED with all the messages, friend requests, notifications, etc. that were waiting for me.  I think I had over 100 notifications from various Facebook apps!  It was almost easier to not have to worry about that.  I am still slowly working my way thru those, and finally managed to catch up with some people.  Of course it was a nice surprise to see a few friends who had surfaced while I was gone, including a friend from my early days in Sarasota (we're talking 20 plus years).

The one realization I had was that I did not see how I had come to use Facebook as my primary means of communication with so many people.  My next door neighbor, who like me is a flight attendant, and I commented on how we never heard from each other during my fast, and our houses are 15 feet apart!

So coming away from all this, I will try to use more email and phone calls to friends versus FB messaging and wall writing.  I'm glad I took this fast and think it will become one of my annual Lenten rituals.