The truth is I feel relieved
With no Facebook, more time to smell the flowers?
The truth is I’ve been preparing myself for this, unconsciously, for a while. Let’s face it, Facebook is not the website it once was. Over the past couple of years, it’s been a bit like a romantic relationship beginning to crumble. The negative aspects creep up on you so slowly that it’s tempting to just keep “putting up with it.” Until it’s no longer possible to put up with it anymore.
We all know the corporate mentality has been gradually increasing. First, they wanted us to pay to reach our audience. That I didn’t mind at first. After all, I run a business too and I do understand the “pay to play” approach. I was willing to contribute financially.
Until they started squeezing everything down. No sending Facebook friend requests without going to “Facebook jail.” Very difficult to communicate with people who are not already friends, including my paying customers who needed information about the products they had purchased. After Facebook gave up on charging us “$1 per message,” they put the messages into “Other” where nobody would see them.
There was the censorship of my posts that they never could justify with any written policy. The lack of accountability in their supervisory chain of command. The strangulation of organic traffic from Facebook. The requiring payment to build an audience and then not letting us reach the audience we had built on our Facebook Page. I was writing tons of free content for Facebook and getting very little return on all that work.
And for all the strangulation of legitimate communication on Facebook, they couldn’t seem to stop the endless stream of spam posts into my inbox …
What had once been a harmonious win/win arrangement between me and Facebook had slowly, almost imperceptibly, turned into a very unbalanced and unproductive relationship. Frankly, it became quite an abusive relationship.
And then there was the fact that the News Feed become intolerably “meh.” Pretty soon I was saying “I don’t want to see this” for every second post. I feel nauseous hearing about all the special relationships, watching people die who didn’t bother to learn the skills to heal themselves, the endless photos of people’s children (no, they’re not cute, they look like a pain in the ass), the absolute scam of so-called “sexual healing,” the mind-numbing spiritual cliches, the horrifying misinterpretations of A Course in Miracles by purported “gurus” of the Course. I just couldn’t take it anymore.
And still, I’ve been so reliant on Facebook for so long. There was a bit of … ahem … co-dependency there. It was a little like when I quit my job. I knew it was time to go yet I had a very hard time leaving. I wanted to hold on to my security blanket. I feared the unknown.
I was scared if I left Facebook, that I would lose traffic to my websites. That I would become irrelevant. That nobody would buy my products and services anymore.
Happily, Cutting Edge EFT Tapping Video Products. Over the past few months, as I become increasingly dissatisfied with Facebook, I started recording videos about it. And as I did that, the co-dependency and fear of “what I might lose” gradually disappeared.
Until yesterday, when I just walked away. At first I thought it would be a short deactivation. I thought I would reactivate within a few days.
But the feeling I experienced after deactivating my account was palpable relief. I felt a huge burden had been lifted off me. No more banal go-nowhere conversations. No more incessant “notifications” on my iPhone. No more endless participation in groups that don’t give anything back or support my business in any way.
And it doesn’t seem like my website traffic was affected at all. It didn’t hurt that How to Attract Money with EFT Tapping.
Maybe there is … life after Facebook. What if life after Facebook deactivation could actually be BETTER than life before Facebook deactivation?
I don’t promise I won’t reactivate my Facebook account, but right now I am enjoying very much being Facebook-free. Maybe I will blog more. Maybe I’ll explore some other social media avenues. Maybe I will do less and accomplish more. Who knows?
Have you ever considered leaving Facebook?
Love,
Erika Awakening, Teaching People How to Create Everyday Miracles at TAPsmarter
Erika Awakening is one of the world’s foremost experts on eradicating limiting beliefs and living life on your own terms.
There are many a times I have thought about leaving facebook or atleast deactivating it for a while to see how it works. One busy day & when you login you see floods of posts that are tagged, liked by friends, friends of friends & so on & you just get mad at times honestly. The only thing that keeps me going is the way I am able to stay in touch with my best friends.
I agree, Facebook isn’t the same as before. I created my account in 2007, and life was simpler back then. No game invites, no advertisements, and just me and my high school and college friends reconnecting with each other.
I am glad that Facebook didn’t keep this policy.
Hi this article seems to contradict with this article https://erikaawakening.com/how-to-deal-with-negative-people/.
“I contain multitudes.” – Walt Whitman
Yea could be, or there are just paradoxes going on. I do my very best not to avoid anything, especially my own feelings. When we are actively avoiding someone, we are usually avoiding our own feelings. Sometimes though my intuition tells me to disengage from “this world” and go deeper within. This may look like avoidance to the untrained eye, but it’s actually the opposite.
I Give You 6 Weeks Tops :)
Could be … we’ll see how it feels … :)
You are so right Erika!
I’ve been meaning to stop for quite a while now, but there are still some things that lure me in from time to time :) This seems like my ego doing the talking, I know… but nothing will happen. The way I see FB right now is that I shows me the perspective on my lookout at life, and what is happening. Strangely enough I’ve been only getting ‘nice’ messages in my timeline. That shows me something too, you know. Furthermore: I see this body being enabled by FB to ‘talk’ to others all around the globe, sharing the Word. I believe that too services a purpose.
Have a good one!
Alex
Thanks for stopping by Alex. Yea I understand all that – and even for me, it was useful for a long time. Just now feels like its many “costs” outweigh its benefits. Could be spending a lot more time and bandwidth on something else, like writing blog posts here :) Hope to see you again soon.
Right on Erika!! I was off FB Jan-April!! Love what U do!! garner
Thank you Garner, hope to see you here again soon :)
Facebook is a strange, strange kingdom. A journalist and mom of 2 young kids did a 5-part expose on the child porn community that operates with relative freedom on FB. Come to find out, advertising dollars are significantly impacted if FB was to efficiently delete this sea of perverts.
She had entire transcripts posted with user names, horrible groups, and all sorts of pics. Her description of her research was not just suggestive or explotaitve images of young kids, but really horrific pics like adults penetrating them (both during the act or just after).
Like you pointed out, FB interrupts and stifles productive things like our friending activities, banding together on common interests and causes, and other positive activities. And turns a blind eye to absolute horror. What a difficult irony to live with.
The journalist also went into the cents-on-the-dollar wages overseas workers are paid to review flagged entries, and the unsurprising way they operate in actuality vs. policy due to this.
The whole thing left me so stunned that it remained in the forefront of my mind for days. I use FB to spread love especially trying to raise awareness of how animals are treated in factory farming and other practices, and to interact with people regarding my journey out of fundamentalist religion. I try to focus on FBs positive aspects as a tool for my use, but people should know the reality of its underbelly, so they can lend a hand with awareness and love as led.
Interestingly, a few weeks ago I suddenly could not bring myself to enter the FB realm anymore. This happened in the midst of being a “near-addict” and it’s unexplainable to me why I suddenly ditched it cold turkey. It was my inner guidance so I’m not fighting it. FB was likely keeping me tethered to influences and dynamics (both within and without) that were time to change perhaps. I still have my account, but after reading your post I’m feeling more at ease with my change of heart.
Hi Amy,
Thanks for commenting. Mmmm, I’m especially resonating with your last paragraph. Quite interesting to me that my loss of interest in Facebook strongly coincided with:
1. going from vegetarian to vegan and letting go of sex permanently – https://erikaawakening.com/healing-cosmic-joke
2. loss of interest in alcohol. I am still drinking a little bit of wine but very little. It just isn’t feeling good.
3. chronic skin issue most healed it’s been in over a decade.
The theme I was noticing is that Facebook too had taken on addictive and toxic rather than useful qualities. And I lost interest in all of them at once. It’s like I finally saw through all the patterns simultaneously. Might be worth going deeper with this theme in another blog article …
Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you here again :)
Hi Erika, I read your other blog you linked to above – wow. Definitely inspiring further reflection. I plan to comment soon…
I also drink very little anymore. Maybe twice a year. Because of that my tolerance is ridiculously low and for the last 5 years half a glass of wine would definitely affect me. But the last 2 times I’ve had some either wine or beer (since beginning to study ACIM), it caught me off guard to notice nothing happens anymore! I happened to mention this curiosity to my sister, who also studies ACIM, and she has experienced this too. I find it so interesting, as alcohol used to be a welcome relief for my social inhibitions.
As you wrote above that the wine isn’t feeling good, my sister said it just that way (she has been meditating and doing other things for years before I have, and the “bliss of alcohol” is by comparison for her a worse feeling than the blissful feeling she now walks around with). Something will occasionally throw her into fear or anxiety mode, and she said it’s like being 2 different people. I still spend a far amount of time with uncomfortable thoughts so I couldn’t fully relate to that part of what she was saying, but I find it so interesting that ACIM has so many healing effects on mind/body to produce this kind of new normal. The question “Is this what you would have in place of heaven?” has to apply equally to not only the negative aspects of life but all of the pleasurable things in life. It all signifies separation in different forms. I am still considering what that means to our time on this planet but will post more to your other link above. Thanks for your thoughts, always appreciated.
Thanks Amy. We just posted another new blog on a very different topic here:
https://erikaawakening.com/yaro-starak-interview-debunking-myths-making-six-figure-income-online/
But don’t you get most of your clients from Facebook?
Or do you have other venues of getting clients such as your blog and mailing list? Thanks for clarification.
Hi Kundan, thanks for stopping by and for the question … “don’t you get most of your business from Facebook?”
What a rich topic. I think it’s going to be a new blog article … stay tuned … :)
Here you go Kundan, the answer to your question: https://erikaawakening.com/clients-business-from-facebook/
I use mine for personal use only, I do have a few business pages but I rarely use them. Most of my traffic comes from Pinterest and Google anyway. I agree though, the Facebook feed is ridiculous, you never see what you want to see and it’s getting worse with all the changes. I also hate that they stalk you, want to tag you in every photo, know where you were, where you have been…etc. My own momma doesn’t even keep that close of an eye on me!
Good luck to you, sounds like you made the right move.
Thanks for stopping by the blog, Lesley. Yea Facebook used to be a great source of traffic but they seem to have forgotten the basic principles of win/win. I doubt I’ll be the only public figure leaving them this year. Cheers :)
Because I have many people I would love to keep in touch throughout the world in my personal life, I have found it very difficult to step away from it. I lived for 10 years in another country, and Facebook is the intersection of both worlds for me. My vessel to tap in to keep in touch.
I have thought about it, for many of the same reasons that you have (much less on the business side than you) but can’t seem to pull the trigger due to my vastly expanding network of friends and aquaintances.
Hi Xavier,
Thanks for stopping by the blog. Yes, I understand the inner conflict and how difficult it was to step away. The balance really is what is it COSTING me to be on Facebook, and over time the cost was higher than the benefit. It was the EFT tapping that really helped me clarify this. The recent Freedom Challenges were especially helpful (http://tapsmarter.com/freedom), as well as some EFT tapping videos that went into our Gold membership at http://tapsmarter.com/join.
Hope to see you here again.
cheers,
Erika
For about two years now. It would be great to log on and not have to see posts from the people who i associate with the past and negative things. It’s a burden at this stage and may just deactivate it. I’m on the fence about it. As it has people i would like to keep in touch with and others i would rather forget about.
Hi Shane,
Yes I understand, I was on the fence for at least six months maybe longer. I especially started questioning my involvement on Facebook after a truly dismal experience with their customer service.
Now that I pulled the trigger, I see nothing but positives. The people who really resonate with you will find some other way to connect. I found that Facebook was not a conducive medium for deep transformation like what I teach anyway, way too many people caught up in their addictions and taking no action to change that. And all the time and bandwidth that is freed up to explore other avenues is HUGE.
Hope to see you here again soon.
– Erika
Leaving some thing is not an event but only shutting window pans to prevent light and wind which is felt as adding to the shiver. Business is to be done parallel with Spiritual Aspirations ie. you don’t have to mix them to meat the ends which are entirely different in dimensions. Close only channels to I-Phone and web sites.
Hi Kesavan, I’m pretty happy about the decision so far. Perhaps I’ll change my mind in the future, or Facebook will become a more fruitful avenue again. For now I’m going to let the light in from other angles :)
I like this. I always thought too much energy gets wasted on FB. I think it is one of the useful tools to advertise your “business”, but nothing more than that. I use it as it is an easy way to stay connected to my friends abroad, but too many times I noticed I used it just to disperse my energy, to satisfy my ego. I will stay on it for time being, but its mainly just for the lack of the better idea. I like that you found better ways to achieve what FB offers!
Thanks Iztok, as you know I was feeling less and less connected there over the past year. With this super deep transformation, people really need to get off their ass and take action with the tapping. There were far too many people on Facebook who wanted to engage in debate without actually learning anything about what they were “debating.” I’d rather save my bandwidth for those who are committed and taking action like in our Gold membership at http://tapsmarter.com/join. I appreciate your support, thank you :)
Hi Erika! Good blog about Facebook!
Indeed, I opened an account around 12 years or so ago but never populated it. When I was setting it up, I noticed all kinds of small ways these people have access, and had hidden access for vendors to my information. As a web designer, all kinds of red flags were popping up everywhere.
Sure, I suppose Facebook has helped many businesses, but with all the flotsam-jetsam that goes with the access to a sea of “people” (not all users are people), it just didn’t seem worth the trouble for me as an individual.
As the years rolled on, I have seen people miss job opportunities based on “what they had on their pages” (companies never elucidated exactly WHAT kept my friends from getting their jobs, they don’t have to, and in fact, asking for the FB address is a routine part of the process now!). I have gotten a few raised eyebrows myself, when I wasn’t “found” in FB… Gee… terrible, that…
Anyway, my guess is you’ll miss it as much as I have… :)
Blessings, onward, and upward,
Sonya
Thanks Sonya. Yes, Facebook was very helpful to my business for several years and I remain grateful for that. But it has changed, and there is no point throwing good money after bad. Time to move forward with new avenues.
Very troubling to me that employers would use Facebook in this way – then again, I am a big fan of not having an employer. And anyone who wants to learn how to become self-employed and experience freedom from abusive employment relationships need only learn my system at http://tapsmarter.com/eft-tapping-money-business
Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you here again :)