Hi There. You’re probably new. Any of you might be one of my friends from facebook who got a message like this.

hi kevin here, i know its a hassle but i’m deleting my facebook account but i would love it if you stayed in touch, so send an email to my email address or by following me at twitter.com/kevinolega or through my websites minimalchanges.com and philippineislandliving.com in case you’re wondering why i’m doing this, im trading facebook for something better..every minute i spend away from facebook will be spent on things that are really important to me.. so if you want an update on me just read my blog, email me, or meet me in person. the good thing about getting rid of facebook is that i have more time to hang out with people..if you got this message i probobly unfriended your account already. . for work related stuff or you need help looking for work or projects go to ph.linkedin.com/in/kevinolega or email me directly. for help in anything you think i might be able to help you with just message me just not here on facebook.

I got a lot of mixed reactions from this message. Some are sad. Some are weird. Some people said yes. Some people tried to stop me. Most people didn’t care. Which was the point of the activity. Before the deletion I had 700+ people in my account. about 90 percent are people who I just met once or twice and on a daily basis I get about as much status updates to look at. Messages, requests for stuff I cant really do. Like games and apps and stuff like that. In the span of 1 year on facebook I have added 700 friends. Sent 500 Messages and had used about 30 apps. I also posted about 200 status updates and comments from reactions to posts to birthday greetings. Which was a lot. If you try to count the time.

I saw a Doraemon cartoon on the bus to work and Doraemon said that once you moved forward in time you can never take it back.

On the same day Leslie Cao from Radical turtle wrote this article. Which pretty much got me. Here I was working on my freedom by adapting a minimalist lifestyle and working on myself with minimal changes and I spend too much time on facebook with people I care about when in fact I need to spend more time on people and projects I care about. I’m pretty happy with the level I’m in right now but in the past few months I realized that I should be somewhere within my reach and that something is holding me back, It was distraction.

In a church service the pastor once said “If the devil is unable to turn you to the dark side he will distract you by making you busy on things that are unimportant.” and that’s where I was doing the unimportant.

Don’t think for a moment that I don’t care about you. I left facebook so we could have more time together and I could continue writing here in minimal changes which I wrote to pass on whatever things I learned that you could use too and on the projects that are important to me. The extra time will be spent on that.

I know getting rid of people from grade school, high school and college and everyone else I met is a drag but consider the possibilities. You and I have really important relationships right now that we need to nourish. I have a my mom, my little brother, my girlfriend, and the people I meet on a regular basis to take care of and if that’s not enough I have a full time job, 2 blogs and projects I really wanted to get in to. I don’t want to spread myself too thin and in my case facebook is a big distraction so it has to go. I’m also looking at setting up another business in Manila and going back to school to complete my upgrades and to learning to play the guitar and spend time with family and finally you. Just like I said in the message. The good thing about getting rid of facebook is I have more time to hang out with people. So feel free to shoot me an invite.

And for the record I don’t think its a waste the rest of the 700 are not here what’s important to me is that you’re here and that’s all that matters.

I’m on twitter though which is low maintenance and equally addictive. And email may be old school for you but I’m using it because its distraction free and it gets the job done.

Thanks for understanding friends. There you have it. Good riddance facebook.


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