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[rosieb1]

one thing I dealt a lot with (being a sahm) in the beginning was being distracted by the net in general but also with FB!  I came to really dislike it and myself but I kept getting tripped up by it.  It's so easy to be on the net b/c you feel active in the community/world even though it's almost exclusively surface.  it's in your mind - i mean so much of the time no one would really get caught up in what you weree saying or how you lived but isn't always that we get caught?  How do you as a mom not get distracted by the net?  or do you!?  why?

[SimpleLove]

I hear you! I've been facebook-free for about a month now and don't miss it at all. In hindsight, I spent way too much time on there and based my opinions of people on their hourly status updates. It absolutely made me a worse mother and wife. The only time I really spend online now is to check email, which is rarely from an actual person so it doesn't take up much time. Only when I'm bored and have been away from the computer all day do I find myself looking for some online distraction, usually to put off a chore or just unwind. I guess my body is still used to walking towards the office. (I don't have a smartphone or iPad which is a blessing)

[rosieb1]

oh yea that's a big part of the distraction is major interest in other people's lives instead of actually living and/or enjoying our own.  That's why I REALLY dislike FB too.. I spend a lot of time in my email now and really truly communicating with people.  I feel like it's just another way to deceive ourselves that we are connected to people and having real relationships.  I never got to know anyone better via FB, even family and old/distant friends just casually passively posted to their walls but we never gained anything by "friending" them.  Now, keep in mind there are people who FIND others or keep up with old friends by FB - but that's rare in my experience.

[SunnyPerch]

I haven't actually deleted my account but I haven't posted in many months and removed my shortcuts and iPhone Facebook app about a month ago. Then I set myself a strict limit of only visiting FB one hour on Sunday if I choose, hoping to end it completely soon. But there is a wonderful mom's group that posts interesting articles and provides a forum for feedback and information and that is the main place I check out if I'm ever on there any more, which is not often (please don't kick me out :))..

I found I was getting sucked into it constantly just because I work from home on my PC and it's such an easy distraction...I simply had to curtail it. When I found myself one day in the middle of some odd event wondering how to phrase it in a funny/witty way for my next status update, I knew it was time to call it quits./

[mleawicks]

I stopped doing FB about 2 yrs ago. to many nagitive comments back to me because my DH and I don't go with the normal flow of the area. we are seen as odd. sad I did like hearing from old class mates for 2 hrs from here. it was people around here and my family from all over US that gave the probelms.

[lillymonster]

I know this is not a hugely active site, but I am happy it is here. I just deactiviated my facebook account, I will delete it soon. I have a lot of mean things happen to me (I commented on a "friend's" post and another "friend" called me names and was hostile when I was just asking a question for myself) and stuff creeped me out with facebook privacy. I regret wasting so much time when my first child was little, and now she is going to school and I feel like I lost all the time I had while I was on facebook. I got sucked into what people portrayed as "real". Now I just have to learn to get off the computer totally, but facebook is a start.

[SimpleLove]

LilyMonster, I could have written your post. I am 6 months free of Facebook but still struggle with the habit to sit down at the computer.

Since leaving Facebook I've lost a surprising amount of local, real-life friends. Nobody emails anymore (I try to reach out). My local support groups (LLL, API, etc) have all switched over to FB so there's no way to know of meetings and events. When I am with other moms they start up a conversation like, "Hey! Did you see what I posted?" It's a shame. I'm thankful I had the sense to leave when I did. And I find comfort knowing that I'm not the only crazy person without a facebook ;)