The questions have started – random friends and acquaintances who followed my life via Facebook have realized the change. I have not been active on Facebook for more than 4 months. It was a decision I had to take. I was tired of people judging my life via Facebook. I was tired of all the security breaches and privacy issues Facebook kept tossing at me. I was tired of segregating people into lists and setting privacy controls. I gave up in short.

I used Facebook as a medium to share pictures and memories with my closest friends. Over the years Facebook grew and my friends list consisted of everyone I meet – neighbors, teachers, colleagues and more. The list just kept growing. Do not get me wrong – I love to connect with everyone and get back in touch. But let me be honest – most people do not want to see every picture I post of my daughter. Just as I do not prefer to see photos of every meal cooked and every place many of my facebook friends post.

I had/have great privacy settings and lists setup in Facebook but suddenly I hit this stage when I realized it made no sense to be on Facebook. What I once considered a place to share my life with my closest friends had turned into something else. Something the world might need but definitely not something I need. Not so surprisingly most of my friends gravitated away from Facebook over the years.

I am a documentor – I want to document and share snapshots of my life with people who care. The closest friends with whom I want to share things find a way to be in touch. We do not need Facebook. Especially with smart phones and apps like Whatsapp I really do not need Facebook to share moments. Family – the ones who I think should be interested in our lives have a way to check them out.

I still have an online presence – twitter is the place you will find me frequently these days. I have mentioned it here before and I have a widget on the right where you can reach-out to me on twitter. I find twitter more open and less restrictive for my online presence Also being open I watch what I post unlike Facebook where I assumed what I posted was private. 140 characters are just about right to concentrate my thoughts into words. More than anything else I have connected with some awesome folks on twitter and it sort of reinforced my faith on twitter.

I am also frequent on this blog as you know. I call Poohsden – My online home and it is true. I have been maintaining this blog for nearly 7 years and what I blog about changes but it always remains a place where I share my views and those jumbled thoughts on my mind. I know many of the folks who frequent this space but never leave a comment. I know people who send encouraging words via email or sms after reading. Honestly with my blog I do not care who reads the posts – it is my outlet – my cry and shout-out I post here because words are my way of letting it out. I need to put my emotions into words often and that is what I do.

In short, I am still on Facebook but I have quit posting pictures or documenting milestones there. Such stuff are on Twitter or on my blog. I have weaned off rather successfully if I could say so myself.