When Did Facebook Become Work?

Interestingly enough, I was asked to join Facebook through one of those "invitation" things sent through Hotmail by a church member.  Perhaps it was a foreshadowing?

It wasn't long until I started reconnecting with lots of good friends from my past.  Family members also showed up, and I truly felt like I was better able to stay in touch with many of them and what was going  on in their lives.  For a time, I spent way too much time on games and quizzes.  Then, I finally settled into a routine of just keeping up with my friends and advertising these blog posts.

I decided to start a church Facebook page for the congregation I serve, and that also gave me an outlet for posting this blog.  A few church members were added to my friends' list, but we haven't been "in each other's business" as the saying goes.

But then something interesting happened.  I was added to an ELCA clergy group.  Suddenly, I was being exposed to thoughts from clergy all over the U.S.  Interesting conversations ensued, and notifications in my FB account went wild.  Then, a few months later, my bishop added me to a Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod FB page.  More notifications.

About a week or so ago, I took myself out of the FB page for ELCA clergy (more on that in a later post).  Now, I am seriously considering removing my name from the TX-LA Synod page as well.

And it's not because I'm angry or upset or frustrated about anything that I posted or was called out about.  It's about something deeper and more upsetting, at least as my thoughts go.

Yesterday evening, I began putting it all together.  Facebook was becoming work.  If you are like me, you have FB notifications on your cell phone.  I have caught myself checking my phone more often than I would like.  And I can't seem to resist checking a notification.  If something pops up, I have to read.  And more and more of those notifications are related to church work--not the local parish, mind you, but the greater going ons in the Synod and national church.

"Wait a second," I told myself, "work is following me wherever I go.  There is absolutely no way to escape it since my cell phone goes everywhere I do.  This is not good.  Not at all.  I need to be able to turn work off for extended periods of time.  I don't need to be that connected."

So I have come to discover that I have a couple of choices.  One: I must exercise more will-power and refuse to check notifications.  That might be extremely hard for me, but I'm going to have to be more successful at it, or... two: I'm going to have to bug out of the larger church group. 

I'm not getting off FB.  It's been too much fun reconnecting with everyone, but I refuse to be constantly connected to work.