The Facebook Hammer.

I heard it again today: someone saying how much they hate Facebook. And by hate, they actually mean love so much it's unhealthy. I've heard the same thing about blogging: "I've got to quit blogging," like they're giving up a hard drug.

I totally get it. It's so easy to spend way too much time on it. It's so easy to get sucked in. It's so easy to turn into a major creeper and try to find out way more than you need to know about someone else's life. It's so easy to get majorly self-absorbed and assume that every facet of your life is worth sharing with EVERYONE you know. And seriously: sometimes you leave people behind in your life for a reason. No need to keep in touch. No need to get depressed about how their choosing to live their life when they were so much better than that! Argh!

Seriously. I get it.

But I know that when those thoughts start running through my mind, it's time to plug into my internet mantra:

Use it. Don't let it use you.

So zen, right? 

Because, really, saying I hate social media sites is like saying I hate hammers. They're tools. That's it.  And like the hammer, it can only hurt me if I'm mis-using it or I'm not careful. 

Maybe a better example is a credit card: Facebook is like a box of chocolates credit card. It can do so much good (do you know how much free gas we've gotten by using credit cards right? It's awesome.) but it can also do so SO much baaaad. If I use them right, they're my tool, I control them for wise purposes. Don't let them control me, and we've got a working, healthy relationship going on here. No need for all-out get-out-of-my-life banishment.

Though, again, I get it. I get how sometimes, when you're having a hard time, cold turkey is the best way to go. Like how sometimes, a cash-only budget is a necessity for someone who really struggles with using a credit card wisely. Or how you have to swear off cutting up carrots for a while because you cut your finger every. single. time. Gah!

When I feel like I'm starting to drown in social media, I have to stop and take inventory of why it's getting so chronically appealing. For me, it's usually because I haven't made time to connect with others outside the walls of my home...and am feeling socially starved. A quick fix is a phone call to a friend or long-distance family member. Or to sit down and write an old fashioned email...or (gasp!) paper and pen letter. (Those are so fun, p.s.) Or call a friend that second and invite them over for lunch the next day. But it's different at different times for me...and it's different for everyone else, I think....as far as what makes it tempting to misuse and what fixes the prob.

But if you'll excuse me, I have a Facebook status to update. About how I just blogged about Facebook.

Kidding!

I laugh at all my own jokes around here.