It's only been 3 days with no Facebook & I already feel free. FREE!!! Weird, because prior to the #100daysofhappinesschallenge it wasn't abnormal to go for 3 days without Facebook, but the fact that it's not there waiting for me with new "likes" or comments or messages is actually really nice! Not saying I didn't enjoy people communicating with me on there, but for the sake of the social experiment, I feel like I just have so much more time now to actually spend time communicating with people!
Who knows how much time I actually used to spend browsing my Facebook, updating myself on world news & entertaining myself with friends' pictures... because now, I'm getting more cleaning done, getting more communicating done (Skyped with 2 of my besties for the first time in months!), AND I'm learning some new stuff (educating myself on the world of real estate investing!) instead of reading my news feed. Oh, AND I started a new blog with one of my friends as a source of inspiration to encourage each other to pursue creativity in our lives/jobs/relationships - ideainventors.blogspot.com WOOT WOOT check it out. I may just write write write forever.
One thing I want to clarify is that by "no Facebook Challenge" I mean I deactivated my personal Facebook account. (This does not mean I do not still see Facebook almost daily because the social media management aspect of my job involves running the Facebook page for my place of employment.)
It's only been 3 days on the #100daysnofacebookchallenge , and already, I feel a difference. Stay tuned (and call/text/email/write me a letter if you miss me) :)
XoXoX,
T. S. Hori
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Monday, September 15, 2014
Sunday, September 14, 2014
So What All Have I Learned On Facebook Lately?
Not gonna lie... my Facebook news feed is full of awesomeness in the form of articles about totally mostly useless information, i.e. politics, news headlines about celebrities & what's going on in the world that will never actually affect me. However, it is also full of beautiful pictures of my growing nieces & nephews, videos of their performances, moments in time that we will never get back, and it's full of the lives of all the bestestest friends I've ever had raising children, buying new homes, growing plants, playing with puppies, cooking tasty looking dishes & simply enjoying life.
The other day I called to chat with my nieces, nephew & big sis in Georgia, & when my nephew got on the line I asked him if he knew who I was. He didn't, so when I reminded him I'm one of his aunts, he replied, "the blonde one?"... If my nephew doesn't even know who I am, then I have failed at keeping in touch no matter how many awesome pics of him I may "like" on Facebook. If I'm not seeing him in person or at least talking to him on the phone, I'm a stranger. I know I'm going to miss out on so much without Facebook, but what if I don't? What if I actually get in BETTER touch with my family & friends who live on the other side of the country by way of de-Facebooking?
I mean, I'll still have this blog, so I'll still be in the world-wide web (& 2 other blogs that I will probably pay more attention to without the distraction of Facebook), so people can still kind of keep up with my life if they want to, but this is an experiment & if you choose to follow along, I hope you have as much fun experimenting as I do!
Starting Monday, Sept. 15th, #100daysnofacebookchallenge ! Tons of people live without Facebook, or only check it a few times a year, so this shouldn't be a big deal, but since it has been my family/friend's #1 way of communicating with me since I moved to Cali 4 years ago, we are all going to have to figure out new (old) ways of communicating! Let's talk on the phone! Let's write some letters! Without Facebook, would we have all lost touch when I moved, or would we have been even closer because we would have talked on the phone more often or had more meaningful & direct sharing of our lives via letters?
So, as I bid adieu to Facebook, let's take a look back at the last few days/weeks of what I've learned thanks to Facebook:
Overwhelmed? #100daysnofacebookchallenge
The other day I called to chat with my nieces, nephew & big sis in Georgia, & when my nephew got on the line I asked him if he knew who I was. He didn't, so when I reminded him I'm one of his aunts, he replied, "the blonde one?"... If my nephew doesn't even know who I am, then I have failed at keeping in touch no matter how many awesome pics of him I may "like" on Facebook. If I'm not seeing him in person or at least talking to him on the phone, I'm a stranger. I know I'm going to miss out on so much without Facebook, but what if I don't? What if I actually get in BETTER touch with my family & friends who live on the other side of the country by way of de-Facebooking?
I mean, I'll still have this blog, so I'll still be in the world-wide web (& 2 other blogs that I will probably pay more attention to without the distraction of Facebook), so people can still kind of keep up with my life if they want to, but this is an experiment & if you choose to follow along, I hope you have as much fun experimenting as I do!
Starting Monday, Sept. 15th, #100daysnofacebookchallenge ! Tons of people live without Facebook, or only check it a few times a year, so this shouldn't be a big deal, but since it has been my family/friend's #1 way of communicating with me since I moved to Cali 4 years ago, we are all going to have to figure out new (old) ways of communicating! Let's talk on the phone! Let's write some letters! Without Facebook, would we have all lost touch when I moved, or would we have been even closer because we would have talked on the phone more often or had more meaningful & direct sharing of our lives via letters?
So, as I bid adieu to Facebook, let's take a look back at the last few days/weeks of what I've learned thanks to Facebook:
- my friends in Hawaii have the cutest kitty cat ever & always posting awesome pics of either the pretty kitten or GORGEOUS Hawaiian scenery (thank you!)
- my cousin's kids look like they're killin it in martial arts! (they also would not recognize me in person but it's still cool to watch them grow!)- they also have an awesome new home complete with pool & a drumset (party pad! I have got to come party one of these days!)
- some of my friends are amazing cooks, yum
- my friend's dog is intrigued by his own shadow, AND she actually won an all-expense-paid trip out here to LA to see Katy Perry in concert!!! haha so I get to see her again for the 1st time in 4 years! yay!
- my oldest niece is a high school cheerleader OMG, I feel old
- one of my aunts had surgery & it went well
- an old roomie is growing this awesome plant/vine I've never seen before, wrapping around the railing of her stairs in her new home (pretty!), & they have a 150 gallon reef tank that's BEAUTIFUL (video)
- my friends' kids went to their first ever parade & before that they were at a farm/petting zoo (such cute pics!)
- an ex-co-worker's grandma is in the hospital
- an ex-co-worker (police dispatcher) accidentally said "brain fart" on the radio lmao
- an ex-co-worker was driving home when a hawk flew beside her for a half mile! that's awesome
- after 6 years in foster care & 18 different placements, pre-teen twin sisters got adopted together (from following a non-profit called CASA)
- my sister's friend was fake-engaged... I think?
- an old roomie planted a bunch of bushes!
- a pit bull rescued his deaf teenager owner from a housefire in Indiana (friend-shared news story)
- um, a man has been accused of killing and cooking his ex-girlfriend's dog before secretly feeding it to her (that's what you get when you follow news stations)
- someone threw a perfectly healthy little chihuahua in a dumpster (it was rescued- thanks again random news station)
- alot of people are pregnant, one of my friends is preggers with twins & they had hiccups at the same time!
- learned of a family member's pregnancy via Facebook (which shouldn't surprise me since I've also learned of family members' engagements/weddings via Facebook in the past)
- TrackR Bravo is the name of the thinnest tracking device ever so you can attach it to your keys, cat, purse, so that you never lose anything again
- someone literally designed & created a bookbag to look like a giant sack of testicles (that's what I get for following Ludacris' page)
- apparently there's a "welfare-for-weed" loophole that is being pounded out now, where welfare recipients are legally able to buy marijuana with their EBT funds...
- A man allegedly killed his five children, all between the ages of 1 and 8 then drove for 700 miles with them in the back of his SUV before dumping them along a dirt road (another news story- truth is truly stranger than fiction...)
- Only one of the hundred search dogs that were deployed to search the wreckage of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, is still alive today
- two of my old college buds moved back to Georgia after living in other states
- Los Angeles has become the "epicenter" of money laundering operations for international drug rings (news story)
- an extremely extreme solar storm is on its way to our planet & could really do a number on our power grids/radio waves soon
- coyotes are causing chaos in LA... I imagine in this drought they are running out of food in the hills so watch out for your chihuahuas!
- my friend's toddler is modeling in Japan (how cool!)
- Keith Richards wrote a children's book (no way!)
- the show "Resurrection" is back Sunday, Sept. 28th! I thought it was cancelled! sweet
- "you can earn more money, but when time is spent, it's gone forever." - Zig Ziglar
- the founder of Chick-fil-a passed away
- Joan Rivers passed away
- I learned about ALS & Lyme Disease (hence 1st post on this new blog)
- my alma mater was ranked #4 on the 2014 "Best College Food in America" list- way to go KSU
- it rained "rained" in LA, & I slept through it... but I found out on Facebook- haven't seen rain in a long time
- a cousin's lawn was voted "Yard of the Month" in their community (congrats! It's beautiful!) & they started a pest control company
- my friend's son's soccer team completed 2 seasons with no losses, going for a third- he's got mad skillz!
- there is such a thing as "Jeep Fest"- definitely would have never known that without Facebook
- my in-laws went to a country concert, cowboy hat & all
- there are grapes that taste like cotton candy
Overwhelmed? #100daysnofacebookchallenge
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
CHALLENGING Challenges
I admitted to myself recently that I may have become addicted to the feed of possibly useful but probably useless information that I read daily on my Facebook news feed, and decided to create a new challenge for myself as soon as my #100daysofhappinesschallenge and my #30dayabschallenge oh and let's not forget... the #icebucketchallenge (with a #twistoflime) that I have been "nominated" for twice in the last 24... 30 or something hours, so I am going to use the next 20 (I think) days or so talking about all the random stuff I learn from Facebook each day (while logging in to update my social network (full of everyone I never see, unfortunately)). Then, I will begin a 100 day journey into what I might have been like at this ripe, young age of 29 had the phenomenon of Facebook never been created.
We (aka my generation, whatever that is) remember... We remember what it was like to "accept" our first ever Facebook "friend request" (via email right? Oh but we remember back to what it was like to "accept" our first ever Myspace "friend request". We also remember the first time we were "poked", well, maybe not by whom we were "poked", but you remember that dirty feeling of, "eww, why the hell is he "poking"me, what did I do to him?!"... Oh my how these times, they are a' changin'!
To start this splendiferous new blog off on the right track, with no theme or design or customization AT ALL, why not start a challenge with a challenge?! More specifically, the ALS #icebucketchallenge with a #twistoflyme! Once you watch this video, join me in all of these awesome challenges, including the #100daysNOFacebookChallenge - wow if THIS one takes off, the powers that be (Facebook) are not going to be very happy about it, but wouldn't it be cool to remember (or learn) what it was like in the world before Facebook (and Myspace)... the importance of a firm handshake, eye contact, general "people skills"? I want to remember what it felt like to look at a cell phone without getting sucked into the world that's on my news feed because there was no "news feed"... (I read entirely too many random articles and I think I'm addicted to possibly useful but probably totally useless info or maybe just the research of the info).... I also want to enjoy a creative adventure during the 100 days by completing as many creative goals as I feel inspired to complete between blogging, writing, reading, drawing, cooking, even crochet-ing, and definitely more puzzle-ing with my honey!
Join me on the journey beginning Sept. 15th (or sooner if you want to beat me to it, although I'm sure I'm not the only one who has done this and written about it, someone probably wrote a book about removing themselves from the world of online social networking or maybe even the whole, entire world of the web, forever and ever, but I like to set reasonable goals!)! #100daysNOFacebookChallenge - If someone already started this, great minds think alike and you're a genius and... apparently I somehow missed your Facebook deprivation, oh, because you weren't on Facebook? I was a comedian in a past life, you can see it in my smile.
Let's get old skool, early 2000s pre-Facebook/Myspace life a whirl to remember all the good, but maybe even more importantly, to see all the good that comes from today's social networking sites, i.e. pictures of my ever-growing nieces and nephews in a jiffy when I go for over a year without getting to hug them since we are on opposite sides of the country, sharing pictures of my "new life" on the West Coast with all of my life-long friends thousands of miles away and vice versa, also in a jiffy, gone are the days of pen pals, and lost (right?) is the art (or annoyance depending on your preference) of cursive handwriting. It will be so weird if (when?) during the #100daysNOFacebookChallenge I make a new friend and they tell me to "add" them or if someone "deletes" me from their online world and I never even know about it because I stopped getting on Facebook because of the #100daysNOFacebookChallenge. I remember when people said, "CALL" me... then we progressed to "text me" and now isn't it pretty much always, "add me" or "Facebook me"? OR "Tweet me (what? is that a thing?)" or Instagram, ummm... I don't know how to Instagram anyone really because I have a Windows phone.
Anyhow, no request for admirable, charitable donations on this one, just that you give it a shot and share your experience as part of the human network that is our reality. The challenge may not be completely "unplugging" or going "off the grid", but it's enough to get a taste of what life would have been like without that grid. While I may have spent more time with friends and loved ones in person, and I would have never known what it felt like to feel obligated to "approve" someone as a "friend" on Facebook simply because you both know the same person... I'm sure there are lots of good things that would have come from a lack of online social networking sites, but on the flip side, I wouldn't get to watch my nieces and nephews grow so easily, I wouldn't have challenged myself to so many awesome challenges, and I probably would have never known ALS existed (I'm sure I'm not the only one)! So cheers to you Facebook!
#100daysNOFacebookChallenge - September 15th, 2014!
Here we go!
#icebucketchallenge #twistoflyme #100daysNOFacebookChallenge
XoXoX,
T. S. Hori
We (aka my generation, whatever that is) remember... We remember what it was like to "accept" our first ever Facebook "friend request" (via email right? Oh but we remember back to what it was like to "accept" our first ever Myspace "friend request". We also remember the first time we were "poked", well, maybe not by whom we were "poked", but you remember that dirty feeling of, "eww, why the hell is he "poking"me, what did I do to him?!"... Oh my how these times, they are a' changin'!
To start this splendiferous new blog off on the right track, with no theme or design or customization AT ALL, why not start a challenge with a challenge?! More specifically, the ALS #icebucketchallenge with a #twistoflyme! Once you watch this video, join me in all of these awesome challenges, including the #100daysNOFacebookChallenge - wow if THIS one takes off, the powers that be (Facebook) are not going to be very happy about it, but wouldn't it be cool to remember (or learn) what it was like in the world before Facebook (and Myspace)... the importance of a firm handshake, eye contact, general "people skills"? I want to remember what it felt like to look at a cell phone without getting sucked into the world that's on my news feed because there was no "news feed"... (I read entirely too many random articles and I think I'm addicted to possibly useful but probably totally useless info or maybe just the research of the info).... I also want to enjoy a creative adventure during the 100 days by completing as many creative goals as I feel inspired to complete between blogging, writing, reading, drawing, cooking, even crochet-ing, and definitely more puzzle-ing with my honey!
Join me on the journey beginning Sept. 15th (or sooner if you want to beat me to it, although I'm sure I'm not the only one who has done this and written about it, someone probably wrote a book about removing themselves from the world of online social networking or maybe even the whole, entire world of the web, forever and ever, but I like to set reasonable goals!)! #100daysNOFacebookChallenge - If someone already started this, great minds think alike and you're a genius and... apparently I somehow missed your Facebook deprivation, oh, because you weren't on Facebook? I was a comedian in a past life, you can see it in my smile.
Let's get old skool, early 2000s pre-Facebook/Myspace life a whirl to remember all the good, but maybe even more importantly, to see all the good that comes from today's social networking sites, i.e. pictures of my ever-growing nieces and nephews in a jiffy when I go for over a year without getting to hug them since we are on opposite sides of the country, sharing pictures of my "new life" on the West Coast with all of my life-long friends thousands of miles away and vice versa, also in a jiffy, gone are the days of pen pals, and lost (right?) is the art (or annoyance depending on your preference) of cursive handwriting. It will be so weird if (when?) during the #100daysNOFacebookChallenge I make a new friend and they tell me to "add" them or if someone "deletes" me from their online world and I never even know about it because I stopped getting on Facebook because of the #100daysNOFacebookChallenge. I remember when people said, "CALL" me... then we progressed to "text me" and now isn't it pretty much always, "add me" or "Facebook me"? OR "Tweet me (what? is that a thing?)" or Instagram, ummm... I don't know how to Instagram anyone really because I have a Windows phone.
Anyhow, no request for admirable, charitable donations on this one, just that you give it a shot and share your experience as part of the human network that is our reality. The challenge may not be completely "unplugging" or going "off the grid", but it's enough to get a taste of what life would have been like without that grid. While I may have spent more time with friends and loved ones in person, and I would have never known what it felt like to feel obligated to "approve" someone as a "friend" on Facebook simply because you both know the same person... I'm sure there are lots of good things that would have come from a lack of online social networking sites, but on the flip side, I wouldn't get to watch my nieces and nephews grow so easily, I wouldn't have challenged myself to so many awesome challenges, and I probably would have never known ALS existed (I'm sure I'm not the only one)! So cheers to you Facebook!
#100daysNOFacebookChallenge - September 15th, 2014!
Here we go!
#icebucketchallenge #twistoflyme #100daysNOFacebookChallenge
XoXoX,
T. S. Hori
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)