At my daughter’s urging, I joined Facebook a few years ago. As I recall, I really didn’t want to at first; I figured my friends already knew how to reach me if they had something to tell me. But despite my reluctant debut, I quickly got sucked into social networking.

At first, I really liked reconnecting with long lost friends and making new ones, whether I actually knew them or not. It was fun to see who was doing what. I found myself caring, perhaps a little too much, about how many “Likes” something I posted received, and I looked forward to getting “notifications” of comments or messages. Checking Facebook throughout the day became downright addicting! However, after giving it a lot of thought, I think I’m ready to bail.

There are numerous reasons why I’m on the verge of deleting my account. I’m tired of people posting selfies, or letting the world know what they’re eating for breakfast/lunch/dinner, or sending messages publicly to people they’re related to and oftentimes living under the same roof with, or posting something ridiculous like “I flashed my boobs today to get out of getting a ticket” to garner support for any one of a number of health or social woes (how that works, I will never know, and in fact, it probably doesn’t), or just general posting ad nauseam. I’m tired of egos and flamers and politics. A lot is too much, and I guess the bottom line is that I just don’t care anymore.

I began backing away from Facebook a couple of months ago and found that not only did I not really miss it, but I was more focused and attentive to what was actually happening in front of me at any particular time…as in, Reality. Passing students in the hallway who were glued to their phones, or being at a restaurant observing people at the same table being uncommunicative with each other but “checking in” on Facebook or texting or playing games also made me realize just how often we aren’t “present” to real life. I think the saddest example of how seductive social networking has become is when I see parents at their kids’ ball games and their focus is not on their child, but on their phone instead. We often tell our kids to pay attention when we’re not even doing it ourselves.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not completely against social networking. In fact, I am 100% for networking. Networking and forging associations are integral components of both personal and business relationships, and I absolutely love–and need–the relationships I have nurtured over time. And perhaps “time” is the key.

Being truly connected with others involves actual communication, not just mindless postings. It takes time, and it takes a certain degree of thought. Come to think of it, those are concepts I can truthfully “Like.” It’ll be nice coming back to the real world.