Facebook was a great form of communication in high school and college, for events and meeting up with classmates and things. Afterwards, people drifted apart and it became kind of an empty place - hundreds of friends but only a handful I kept in touch with.

As time went on and as my friends list stagnated, facebook kept me attached to the past ("that was so much fun, wasn't it?"). It covered some 7-8 years of my life. Logging on was a bit like falling backwards in time. It makes me remember mistakes I can never undo and moments I can never relive. I was following the events of very old friends I'll most likely never see again. I decided this was not very valuable, so I stopped using facebook.

Deactivating facebook brought my attention back to the present and the future. I'm a bit less distracted. There's no more thoughtless, routine clicking of the facebook link in my bookmarks. I focus a bit better at work. I've put better effort into my proximate relationships (family, friends, coworkers). I've put a bit more effort into my own health and fitness.

These are all small changes, mostly due to a change in my own mindset. But, while it was easy because my close friends and I post very little, deleting facebook was a good first step.