Neo-Luddite purges

I've decided to quit Facebook for an indeterminate period of time.

This has been a decision resting in my mind for quite some time, but I haven't been able to muster up the - gumption? The courage? Perhaps just the moxie or the grit to do so. Even now, after making my decision and signing off for the last time in probably a long time, I go through a shiver of insecurity. But it'll pass.

This isn't the first time this has happened - I generally go through cycles of Facebook activity and usage. Lately, I approached the peak of a buzz of social networking, but now I am on the inevitable decline from the high and, after some talking to my sister, who also swore of Facebook, I decided today now is the time.

It's not necessarily because I hate my friends or anything. It's more...well, to be honest, Facebook makes me depressed.

I went to school with an incredibly talented group of friends. Many went to ivy league schools or their west coast equivalents. And many of them are off doing many wonderful and incredible things. A lot of them graduated college and have gotten in to photography or videography; one friend became a materials scientist; some have gone on trips to Africa and Tanzania and other exotic places; many became programmers who work for high profile companies like Google, and so on and so forth.

Now, I know we're not supposed to measure success against other people, and I'm a big advocate of that. But it's only human nature to compare and contrast, and against these people, I felt very small.

Yes, I am currently in a religiously sanctioned co-habitation relationship, and it has been one of the biggest glories thus far in my short lived life. But it lacks that panache that makes you look pretty awesome on Facebook. These moments are fleeting, really. I rarely sit at home, moping as I pine on Facebook about lost youth or anything. But those fleeting moments of inadequacy accumulate until they become oppressive.

In reality, I am doing well in life. The missus and I are happily married, wiling away our time having loads of fun. There is much laughter and smiling and yummy ethnic cooking in our small studio apartment. And maybe it's time to turn a little inward and focus on more personal, immediate things. As awesome at it is to see friends succeeding, one can become a bit myopic when always looking in the distance at other people instead of focusing on what's happening in their own lives.