So it’s been a little over twelve hours since I deactivated my Facebook account. Other than a low grade itch to check on folks’ statuses, I’m doing okay. One benefit should be more frequent posting here…so I’ve got that going for me…which is nice.

It wasn’t any one thing that pushed me over the edge, but it was a large collection of little things that made me reconsider what I was getting out of Facebook. Most of the bad things had to do with reading something that I disagree with and then fighting over whether I wanted to wade in knowing full well that nothing ever changes based on an Internet conversation. I’m a bit of a know-it-all with a bad case of Male Answer Syndrome (a.k.a. Manswer Syndrome or MAS) so the inner conflict was more difficult than I imagine it might be for other folks.

In the past week or so I’ve been drawn in to a fruitless conversation with someone who insists that there are card-carrying members of the CPUSA at all levels of government and in the media. I’ve watched a neighborhood personality conflict get real close to going critical–things are certainly irreparable now. I’ve bit my tongue any number of times while reading political status updates from the fringes of my friends list. In short, I spend a good deal of time stewing over what is going on and I’d prefer to not do that.

On the side of things I’ll miss I’d definitely include some of the running bits some of my less proximal friends have been doing. I’ll miss the serendipity of finding funnies or interesting bits that other friends have posted. There are a few nascent relationships that have come about on Facebook that will probably stall without me being there. The neighborhood scuttlebutt is something I’ll be excluding myself from. Then again, I’ve got Elz on hand to be my filter there.

I’ll keep on using Jim and Oscar’s page because I have a few long-running gags going there. I’ll be more vigilant about collecting and reading email as well as texting to get around not having Facebook’s breadth of reach. I’ll post more regularly here to let folks know what I’m up to.

All in all, I think this is going to be a good thing. If it turns out otherwise, well, reactivating the account is as simple as logging on using my credentials and then we’re back where we started. Here we go ’round again.