It’s been said that Facebook is like the refrigerator: you look inside and don’t see anything good. Five minutes later, you know nothing has changed, but you can’t resist looking in there again.

We are halfway through Lent, which means I have been Facebook-free for three weeks. (I still post to The  MidWeek’s Facebook page for my job, but maintain that is entirely different than checking in on my personal page.) I have also been without Twitter and Pinterest, having given up social media until Easter.

I read recently that more than half of Facebook users reported taking a break of several weeks from that monolith of social networking. Several of my friends swore it off in the weeks leading up to last year’s elections, sick of all the politicking. (As a side note, a friend once wisely noted, “Pinterest makes me want to be friends with people I’ve never met. Facebook makes me want to punch people I’ve known for years.” During election season, especially, I have to concur.) The demands of being constantly connected are exhausting, and having everyone’s opinion of every topic inflicted upon one can be stressful, to say the least.