i am not surprised that 'facebook free february' would make the list of my top 7 posts over the last two years. the movement seems to have really struck a chord.

you can read the post below, but i want to draw your attention to several related posts:

• i wrote several posts leading up to facebook free february.
• recently, i was asked to guest blog on our experiences of facebook free february over at faithoncampus.com. here is my article: "facebook free february; or, how to grow pineapples."
• my friend, hannah, was the inspiration behind facebook free february. she started by just giving up facebook for the month of january. then february. now, it's almost may and she hasn't gone back. read a few of her facebook free posts here and here.

here is the original post. enjoy.

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have you ever thought about giving something up...only to shudder in fear and trembling? 

perhaps the idea of giving up your morning coffee (or other caffeinated beverages) causes you to panic? you think to yourself, "i could never do that."

maybe you've entertained the idea of giving up your favorite, guitly-pleasure gossip or reality TV program. and you shake your head, conceding you don't think you can do it.

have you ever thought of down-grading your smart phone to a regular, old grandma-style flip phone? what was your reaction?

i think our reaction to these thoughts and ideas reveal what controls us. if you mutter under your breath that you "just can't give up __________," then it just may be a good indicator you need to give that thing up.

it's controlling you. it's dictating to you. it owns you.

and i'm convinved we shouldn't be owned by any thing. paul refers to getting drunk on wine in ephesians 5. he says we should be full of the Holy Spirit instead of wine. the implication here is that only one thing can control us at a time. 

so what controls you?

for those of us in the college context, i am convinced that facebook is in control.

it consumes so much of our time and energy. it's everywhere. it distracts us. it beckons to us. it butts its way into line ahead of studying, resting, community, and good, old-fashioned face-to-face relationships with three-dimensional people and with God.

and i'm tired of being its slave. and i'm tired of my students being its slave.

and so, in february...we are going to take our life back. allow me to introduce you to facebook free february.

there will be more details in future posts, but it seems pretty self-explanatory. starting february 1st and going through february 29th, i am going to be...and i challenge you to be...facebook free. 

(if you read that last paragraph and thought to yourself, "no way! no facebook for a month! i could never..." then you need to do this.)

but it's not enough just to give something up. if there is no purpose behind it, you're really just torturing yourself. after all, fasting for spiritual purposes is powerful; skipping meals with no purpose is just a crash diet. 

there will be more in the coming days, but here are a few purposes behind F3.

• regain control of your time.
• regain focus on things that matter; not whose relationship status changed or who had a ham sandwich for lunch.
• use your new found "free" time to build face-to-face relationships.
• use your new found "free" time to read God's word, pray, and grow your relationship with Him.
• read a book. any book. (just not facebook.)
• and lots more...

'facebook free february' was all about finding extra time each day by staying away from that social black hole known as facebook. it only seems fitting that the month should end with an extra 24 hours that we see only once every four years.

and so, i present to you 19 ways to invest your extra day.

1. buy the coffee for the complete stranger behind you in line at your favorite java joint.
2. sponsor a child through compassion international.
3. celebrate st. oswald's day by washing the feet of twelve strangers.
4. do fifty jumping jacks (leaping jacks?)
5. women: propose to your man.
6. men: say yes.
7. men: if you don't say yes, go buy your rejected lady twelve pairs of gloves to hide her shame (as the tradition requires).
8. sit down a read a huge chunk of a book.
9. think of baby names (consider: adolph blaine charles david earl frederick gerald hubert irvin john kenneth lloyd martin nero oliver paul quincy randolph sherman thomas uncas victor william xerxes yancy zeus wolfe­+585 (reportedly the longest surname on record, born on leap year day in 1904).
10. catch up on your bible reading plan (most yearly reading plans don't include february 29th!)
11. pray.
12. roast your own coffee beans using an air popcorn popper.
13. make a personal budget (hey, it can't all be fun and games).
14. grill something bizarre (we love grilled peaches. simply halve a peach, coat it in olive oil, grill, and serve warm with vanilla ice cream. boom.)
15. get an oil change.
16. take a risk (roger charley, a campus minister friend of mine says this: "if you fall flat on your face, at least you know you're moving forward.")
17. listen to some jazz.
18. give some credit where credit is due.
19. consider extending 'facebook free february' through march. (i am simply not interested in returning to facebook right now).

i have blogged exclusively about 'facebook free february' for the past week.

(read all the F3 posts here).

and soon, i'll blog about something else.

but for now, it's time to begin.

as of this evening, i will be logging off of facebook for 29 days. i will remove the app from my phone. i will say "thank you, and good night" to facebook-land. and i will be free.

in the interest of full disclosure, i am not deactivating my facebook. my wife will change the password on my account so that i cannot access it. (i think this is the way to go for F3. temptation to log in will come after you. you can fight back with this measure of accountability.) 

also, i will still receive facebook messages. many folks from all over contact me via the messaging feature in facebook. it really is just another email inbox for me. those folks may not know that i am going facebook free and i want to be able to receive and respond to their messages.

but i will not be logging on to scroll through my feed or comment on anybody's status updates or wall or RSVP to your event. 

also, you may notice that it appears i am updating my facebook while i am away. i guess that technically would be true; my facebook profile will be updating. but that is because this blog and all of my tweets are connected to my facebook account. and so, when i update this blog or send out a tweet, it'll appear there. i'm not cheating. promise.

if you need to get in contact with me during february, i would love to connect with you on twitter. twitter has finally decided to emerge as my social media drug of choice.

or you can email me at mynameisbrandon [at] gmail [dot] com. we like old-school around here.

and now...go! leave facebook behind for a season and invest your newly re-discovered time, create something beautiful, and concentrate more.

last week, my friend mike posted some great thoughts on how our interaction with technology (including facebook) is affecting our ability to think and read deeply. and we are called to do both. but one quote from mike's post, attributed to howard hendricks, jumped out of the screen and judo-chopped me in the face.

"the secret of concentration is elimination."

boom.

we are not calling folks to give up facebook because facebook is inherently bad. not at all. this is not an anti-facebook campaign.

this is really more of an experiment designed to help us understand how facebook affects us. and, i believe if we will eliminate it for 29 days, our ability to concentrate will be magnified. i think we'll all find that less really is more.

less facebook is more concentration.
less facebook is more depth.
less facebook is more comprehension.
less facebook is more creativity.
less facebook is more time.
less facebook is more real relationships.
less facebook is more ____________________.
less facebook is more.

if you haven't heard yet, 'facebook free february' will soon be in full effect. you can read the original post here and this post on all the productive ways you can invest you soon to be found free time.

if you are the typical facebook user, you are consumed with consuming. you quickly scan your feed. you read some status updates and look at some pictures. you may or may not click on a link to read an article or blog post. chances are you are barely reading anything on the screen at all (but that's a blog post for monday).

and that's about it. i feel that facebook is good at feeding our already-in-place consumeristic tendencies.

it's hard to contribute when all you do is consume. sure, you may throw up a funny status every now and again. you might post a comment on a friend's post occassionally. you might even write one of those annoying "dear john" posts every once in awhile that goes something like this:

dear lady at walmart,
you shouldn't wear those pants.
sincerely,
the rest of us who don't like throwing up

but that is the extent of your contribution. funny, yes. valuable, no.

(please don't hear what i am not saying: i believe there are valuable things happening on facebook. but, how many of us are actually contributing those things of value or beauty? most of us are simply "sharing" what has been created by someone else. and that's different.)

i believe we are made in the image of a Creator. and because we are made in His image, we are created to create. create things of beauty and things of value. and with that in mind, here are some ideas for how you can use facebook free february to create.

1. write poetry.
2. or, if you're not arty-fartsy, write a paper.
3. start a blog where you can share your poetry or your paper. (this is what my friend hannah did. check it here.)
4. start a journal.
5. grow a plant.
6. handwrite a letter to a family member or friend. with a paper. and a pen. and then mail it to them. in an envelope. with a stamp.
7. make an incredible meal to share with your friend or family at a dinner party.
8. start a business.
9. do art (whatever that may look like for you).

don't use the excuse "it won't be good" to keep you from creating. that's not the point. the point is to contribute and release yourself from the bondage of consumption only that facebook relentlessly facilitates.

earlier this week, i extended a challenge for folks to accept the 'facebook free february' challenge. and people are responding! we have dozens of students in our ministry, as well as a handful of folks from around the country, who are jumping in.

and i want to encourage you to do so as well.

why, just think about all the extra minutes (or hours) you will have on your hands each day with which to do something productive! i estimate that i will have (at least) one extra hour every single day. that's like finding free money!

the question is, how will you invest your newly recovered time? if you don't find something productive to do during those moments you would normally be on facebook, you will not gain anything. in fact, you will easily and quickly succumb to the temptation to log-in to your account.

so, for fun, let's make a list of some valuable and lasting things you can do with all this time you will have on your hands:

1. take a friend to coffee.
2. do some homework.
3. take a nap.
4. read a book (any book will do; even a textbook!)
5. ask your roommate how they are really doing.
6. read your Bible.
7. pray.
8. build a relationship with a new friend.
9. go for a run or a walk.
10. write a book. or your research paper.
11. secure global peace.
12. memorize a passage of Scripture.
13. take an international student to walmart.
14. clean something.
15. learn to play racquetball (i am always up for a game!)
16. learn to bake something tasty and healthy.
17. raise some funds and awareness for a charity (i could recommend a few.)
18. call your mom.
19. buy your favorite campus minister an americano, decaf, with room.
20. create something. you are, after all, made in the image of the Creator.
21. bake some cookies and take them to the local hospital ER staff or the police station.

leave a comment and add your ideas.

(edit: there have been a lot of hits on this post. i want you to read the follow-up F3 posts. here they are: 21 things to do with all your extra time, 9 ways to create and not simply consume, a humorous look at why we are doing this, less facebook is more, and it is time.)

have you ever thought about giving something up...only to shudder in fear and trembling? 

perhaps the idea of giving up your morning coffee (or other caffeinated beverages) causes you to panic? you think to yourself, "i could never do that."

maybe you've entertained the idea of giving up your favorite, guitly-pleasure gossip or reality TV program. and you shake your head, conceding you don't think you can do it.

have you ever thought of down-grading your smart phone to a regular, old grandma-style flip phone? what was your reaction?

i think our reaction to these thoughts and ideas reveal what controls us. if you mutter under your breath that you "just can't give up __________," then it just may be a good indicator you need to give that thing up.

it's controlling you. it's dictating to you. it owns you.

and i'm convinved we shouldn't be owned by any thing. paul refers to getting drunk on wine in ephesians 5. he says we should be full of the Holy Spirit instead of wine. the implication here is that only one thing can control us at a time. 

so what controls you?

for those of us in the college context, i am convinced that facebook is in control.

it consumes so much of our time and energy. it's everywhere. it distracts us. it beckons to us. it butts its way into line ahead of studying, resting, community, and good, old-fashioned face-to-face relationships with three-dimensional people and with God.

and i'm tired of being its slave. and i'm tired of my students being its slave.

and so, in february...we are going to take our life back. allow me to introduce you to facebook free february.

there will be more details in future posts, but it seems pretty self-explanatory. starting february 1st and going through february 29th, i am going to be...and i challenge you to be...facebook free. 

(if you read that last paragraph and thought to yourself, "no way! no facebook for a month! i could never..." then you need to do this.)

but it's not enough just to give something up. if there is no purpose behind it, you're really just torturing yourself. after all, fasting for spiritual purposes is powerful; skipping meals with no purpose is just a crash diet. 

there will be more in the coming days, but here are a few purposes behind F3.

• regain control of your time.
• regain focus on things that matter; not whose relationship status changed or who had a ham sandwich for lunch.
• use your new found "free" time to build face-to-face relationships.
• use your new found "free" time to read God's word, pray, and grow your relationship with Him.
• read a book. any book. (just not facebook.)
• and lots more...

stay tuned for more. in the meantime, if you'll join us for facebook free february...leave a comment below!