A Way, WAY Better Means for "Wasting" Time Than Facebook

A few weeks ago, I deactivated my Facebook account. There were several motivating factors, one of which was that I mostly went to Facebook when I was in a lull at work, that little trough of time between a meeting or a deadline where I was “bored” and looking for something to occupy my noggin.

One day I realized there were probably much better ways to fill my time. It’s not that I don’t love you people – I do! I just want to communicate with you in a real way… more personal, more direct, and less influenced by marketing and the connections Facebook seems to have with every other commercial enterprise on the web. I’m not saying Facebook is bad for everyone, I’m just sayin’ it’s bad for me.

Instead, this is where I’ve been spending some time feeding my brain when I have breathing room at work.

Arts & Letters Daily

It’s a “service of the Chronicle of Higher Education”… a massive collection of articles, book reviews, and opinion on all kinds of interesting things: The Rise of the Order of Assassins, books in Argentina, Louis Armstrong, typos, and more. It also provides helpful links to hundreds of newspapers, magazines, and columnists around the web, so there’s always access to something good to read.

This piece on the power of imagination was very, very good.

You give your body high-quality food, be sure to feed your noggin, too.

My Favorite Books of the Last 10 Years

I've heard from so many of you recently that you enjoy my book recommendations. I'm very glad! You can find hundreds of my book reviews...

Read More
The Open Book in Wigtown, Scotland

Let's travel back in time to winter, 2016. My husband David and I were living in White River Junction, Vermont; he was studying for his...

Read More

Comments

  • Lory says:

    Oh wow! This is great Mel! Facebook is like junk food for me, I turn to it when I'm bored and it's really not even that entertaining. This page seems fascinating, I can't wait to read through it!

    Good luck going into weekend #2 of the Whole30!

  • Anniebug, bugger or BUG. says:

    I love that webpage…thanks for the recco!!

  • meghan says:

    Jeez Mel, just when I think I have it down you go and guilt me out of facebook! Hahaha. Amazing suggestion. I'll check it out.

  • Melissa 'Melicious' Joulwan says:

    Lory & Anniebug, have fun exploring.

    Meghan, I don't judge! You can still like Facebook if you want 😉

  • Richard says:

    "I'm not saying Facebook is bad for everyone, I'm just sayin' it's bad for me."

    Mel, I've been saying this same thing now for a couple of weeks and trying (it's taking a lot of effort for me) to break the Facebook habit. My mother even wrote something to the effect that she's been "worried" because she had not "seen" me on Facebook for awhile. "Is everything alright?" she wondered.

    No, I thought to myself. Everything is not alright. I've lost – what? Probably days! – of my life since discovering Facebook. There's nothing "alright" about that.

LEAVE A NOTE