When I told a friend I’d be off of Facebook from midnight Sept 4 until September 20th, she said that sounded hard. “Good luck,” she wrote.

Someone else wrote to ask why I was taking a Facebook fast and asked if it was an experiment.

I would say it’s not an experiment. However, being OFF Facebook is an interruption. And, yes, it does seem odd to me to write that being off is odder than being on.

When I do not interrupt my life, I can do the same things in the same way until they become transparent. Some activities become transparent in the way the individual activities that add up to driving a car become nearly automatic to us. In other words, we do not have to think about turning or stopping or using a turn signal.

But now! Now, I must email or call someone or — gasp — not be updated with a constant stream of photos, updates, comments, and Facebook messages. I’m forcing an interruption to what has become my usual mode of thinking.

I often wonder how Facebook changes my brain. What happens to us when we’re on Facebook updating, being updated, having photos posted of us, being tagged, tagging, becoming “famous” without the staff to support us. When a “friend” mentioned I wore the same sweater a lot–due to photos I’d posted–I thought that was kind of strange. I guess that’s what happens when I give my stylist the year off.

The 32 Poems Facebook page will be updated with the 32 Poems blog posts. No status updates from me. Of course, John can update if he likes.

Let me know how you’re doing. I’ll blog now and then about what happens from this Facebook-free period.