First of all: What's this all about?

Hello,

First of all, I'd like to introduce myself to you. I'm a 17-year old girl from Germany, and so you could think that I'm a member of the so-called "Generation Internet". But actually, I'm not. At least I don't consider myself to be that. For one reason: I don't have a facebook account.
But most of my friends and classmates do. So I've heard many reasons why I should join facebook, too, but I didn't. I'll also tell you why: I know people you could call facebook-addicts and I know that if I joined, I'd become one of them. Always checking the newest posts and pictures or spending a shitload of time stalking people through their profiles. Of course, there are other good reasons that also influenced my decision not to join facebook, for example loosing all my rights about my own data (this was actually the first reason, but now I think my fear for facebook-addiction is the main reason).

So here comes, what this blog is about and why:
As a teenager I've often noticed how people close to me and also their relatioships with each other and with me have changed since there is facebook and other so-called "social networks" all around. These are some of the negative aspects:
-Everyone spends much time at their computers and/or smartphones
-People aren't interested in talking to each other any more, they just look at each other's profile
-Some people don't care about their 5 real life friends any more, because they have 500 facebook friends
-Some people don't know how to write an e-mail any more (or use any other way of communication except for fb)
-Many people don't spend time with their friends and hobbies any more, because they're on facebook when playing computer games and so feeling "social"
-Most important: one year ago, a very good friend of mine did nearly all these things I mentioned and I tried to do the exact opposite because I didn't want facebook to take control of my life he changed so much that we didn't want to be friends any more. But still, I sometimes miss his friendship.

So because I think that a few true friends are more important than hundreds on the internet and that real life is more important than the internet, I'd like to tell you how to get rid of your facebook-time and what you can do with these hours you have now. I'll tell you what I've been doing in the past year and how I stayed in contact with everyone.

0.how much time do YOU spend on fb
to me, of course, every minute on fb is one minute too much, but when would you call someone an addict? answer this question and then find out how much time you spend on fb (having a fb-browser tab opened also counts). Just stop the time on a normal day and be honest to yourself.

1. get rid of your facebook-account
As I had been a member of another social network earlier, I know what people are talking about when saying "But it's so easy to communicate through facebook."
My answer now is: If you're using fb (or other social networks) to stay in contact with others  exchange e-mail-adresses or phone numbers before deleting your account, at least with the people you really want or need to stay in contact with (close friends, family members, classmates, colleagues). Then delete your account or at least deactivate it (facebook won't delete your data anyways...)

2. spend your time with anything you want
As I already told you, I'll introduce some alternatives to facebook to you, that worked for me and still do. You can also post a comment with anything you do to spend your time without being on fb.

3. be happy and free :-D

4. tell others


So, I hope I could convince some people to get rid of facebook or at least realise how much time they spend with this imao both useless and dangerous activity.

I'll soon post the first fb-alternative.

Yours
Blackbird