The Facebook Detox Diet

Is there such a thing as the Facebook detox diet? No, there isn't and the term is merely a figment of my imagination. Although, everything about the diet is probably more realistic than fictional. Let me explain.

I can still remember the day I created an account on Facebook. No, I dont recall the exact day, date or time but I do remember my thoughts when filling in the usual standard questions. At that time I was a big Orkut fan and although everybody began to shift their loyalties to FB, I was still a stickler for the original social networking site. I also had a hi 5 account which I deleted because I honestly forgot to use it as well as a MySpace account, which again I used to forget to even check. However, I signed up for FB 'just in case'. I could never have predicted at that time just how big a control FB would have on my life later. And maybe for plenty of wrong reasons.

As you can imagine, I ended up deleting my Orkut account too because eventually like most things in life, Orkut gave in to the competition and tried too hard to become 'something else'. Gone was the clean interface and easy to read font which were now replaced with a number of customization features. FB with its boring, trademark white and blue screen seemed to have a much bigger magnetic appeal. And what a coincidence in a way, because the same faces that smiled at me from my Orkut friends list were the ones which added to my friends list on Facebook as well.

The good thing about Facebook is that you get to stay aware of what's happening in everybody's life without actually having been there in the first place. I've attended I dont know how many baptisms of new borns, shed a tear or two at weddings I never physically attended, said a prayer for those who had lost loved ones and can even claim to have visited a few foreign lands because of the pictures that were diligently posted online. What began as a celebration of the little events that make up life, according to me soon became a way to prove to others that their life was so very happy. Every little sneeze, every little booze party, every small makeover was being put up for the whole world to see. Although there have been times when I was glad that I was being allowed to celebrate with the person concerned, there were plenty of other times when I wished I had told the person upfront that too much info isn't any good anywhere.

And then came the disastrous 'like' option. To add to everybody's misery, now people could also like other people's opinions and even comment on them. The other day, somebody's dog died and there were actually 4 people who 'liked' the comment. Really? Another day a mum put up an update about her kid who was down with flu. And what have you? Another 5 people 'liked' that update too. I can now believe incidents of people suffering from FB mania or of checking their account some two hundred times a day.

For me, personally I realised that Facebook had begin to affect me in a few other ways that I never thought was harmful at first. Seeing pretty couples pose, beautiful babies being born, happy families on their nth vacation gave me the feeling that my life just wasn't Facebook worthy or even 'me' worthy. I began to compare myself in many ways to over a dozen friends who I felt had 'everything'. And it left me feeling irritated. Miserable. Angry and most importantly, ungrateful for all the blessings I never asked for but received anyway.

Like all problems, getting down to the root cause was the prime challenge. I had become so addicted to knowing what was happening in everybody else's life that I had stopped paying attention to what was happening in mine. And I just had to comment or 'like' something, no matter how silly it actually was. This may not be your story and hopefully you will never be affected the way I was, but I know that years of FB finally began rubbing me the wrong way. And hence the Facebook Detox Diet.

I decided that it was high time I got up and started appreciating what I already had and was in severe danger of losing. I may not have the picture perfect family. The shiny new car with pumped up speakers. Or amazing pics near the Tower of Pisa to show off. But as of now, it's still good to be in my shoes. And I'd like to feel that bit of reality a bit more closer before one of life's surprises knocks me in the face again.

I know that many of my friends love to hear about some funny incident which I have recounted here or some other humourous narrative that has them in splits. The humour hasn't died. But if this was truly to be Sanjana's blog, then I felt that it was also important to jot down my chain of thoughts and whatever started the fire in the first place. And yes, this is one diet that I wholly approve of!