1 week in

Facebook sent me this:

On the surface it's daunting! Oh my goodness! 97 messages!

But then I remembered, I don't delete old FB messages. So I probably have a single message (if any) that is actually new and unread. 

Pokes? That doesn't say *new* pokes. And the only way to acknowledge and remove those from notifications is to return one. Like we are still in middle school. 

The 84 "close" friend updates are mostly from people that at one time Facebook stopped showing in my feed so now I get notifications for everything they post. Even status update equivalents of the mass email forwards of the 90's. 

I know. Some of the blame falls on me. There are settings I could tweak. There are options. But this email only confirms for me that Facebook, as Derek would put it, is a lot less "signal" and a lot more "noise". 

I have to say it has been nice to enjoy the quiet. I'm amazed at how often the kids do something funny and I think, "oh that would make the grands laugh" and begin mentally composing a FB status. It is a little alarming. 

Yesterday I called my mom to share some news. The phone call covered more and there was less confusion because she wasn't trying to remember what she'd read online and I wasn't trying to avoid stuff she might already know. It was clearer, easier communication.

We will see how I'm doing at the end of 40 days but if these are the side effects of being off social media I might give up a few permanently. 

Could this be the end of the over a decade I've been on (the) Facebook?