I tried to make me go to rehab..

..And duh, I said yes. Amy Winehouse, you can literally rest in peace - this isn't your addiction I'm talking about.

In fact, it's worse - I'm talking about a rehab for Facebook addicts. Seems to pale in comparison to others, but trust me, this is one business that can make millions in the long run.

A typical day for people (like me) starts off by logging in to their FB account. Oooh, 3 notifications.

1. Mr. Twerp sent you a request in Xville. I'm going to disable app and game requests. There.

2. XYZ also commented on ABC's status. I could care less. I'm going to unfollow the post. There.

3.  Somerandomguy posted in "The group you were added to, and couldn't come out of, because of obligations." Enough is enough. I'm going to leave this freaking group.There.

Hang on, though. If you're lucky, you could get a few relevant notifications. Like somebody tagging you in a photo of a flower, or worse, an application-generated photo like "Who will eat you alive?"

And the messages? "hey, wana b frn" Yeah, sure. As long as you are actually the cricketer that I can see in your display picture.

Apart from these seemingly silly reasons, there is a core reason which caused me to re-think about having an account. The narcissism, the superficiality. It's clear that FB has turned into an avenue for people to project the best - and only the best - part of their lives. "Fun, laughter and more - at Goa with (tag twenty five names here)". Anyone who projects the bad part of their lives is considered a whiner. And rightly so. So, the gist is, nobody enjoys seeing the best part of others' lives. They only want to see their own. And people definitely don't want to see the bad part. I've not only been a victim, but a culprit too.
When I re-evaluated who actually wanted to hear about my life, the good and the bad, I realized that most of my FB friends didn't want to. No-one told me, but I figured, because that's how I felt about others too. And the few people who did want to listen to me (and vice-versa) were in touch with me via other means.

Yet, I kept at it daily, scrolling through the News Feed, liking a random post or two and commenting diplomatically (nobody wants your strong opinion, remember?). Updating statuses on a regular basis and uploading the best photos. I hardly ever used FB as a medium to really get to know people. Why? Simply because there were too many.

Coming back to the story, I'd have liked a physical rehab center (just kidding, my family'd kill me) to go to, but I had to settle for my own mind to help me with this. I took the big leap and clicked on "Deactivate account" (forget deleting it). Which led to a screen that was highly manipulative. "Are you sure you want to leave? (Insert names of friends here) are going to miss you! You cannot stay in touch with them. Do you want to send them a message before leaving?" For Heaven's sake, I'm not committing suicide. In fact, I'm not even deleting my account. After telling FB why I chose to "leave", I opted out of any kind of e-mail notifications. FB was still not happy. Had to confirm twice (password and captcha check). If I hadn't been strong-willed (thank you), I would have closed the whole thing and gone back to surfing the News Feed.

Now let me sit back and enjoy the show. I'm on the bench for one month, to start off with. If I feel it has saved me a lot of time and effort, I will continue!

Oh, and welcome to my blog! :)