Guys, I’ve done it. I have done the impossible. I have taken away my Facebook and my Tumblr for the rest of the quarter.

It seems a little crazy, and some of you probably doubt my sanity right now, but it’s true. I have allowed a trusted person to change my passwords to my accounts and given them specific instructions to give them back to me only after the newspaper has been distributed.

Let me tell you, it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I don’t usually “use ” Facebook in the sense that I don’t post statuses or play games. But, I use it regularly in that mindless scroll way where all you do is hold down the down arrow and let your eyes glaze over.

It took me a while, but I realized that a lot of the time that I spend staring at silly status updates could be used for more pressing and important matters, like homework, and scholarships, and articles for the paper. I have gotten so behind on everything that drastic actions had to be taken.

At first, it was hard to let go and say my goodbyes to Facebook and Tumblr, an act I underestimated. I would go online and my fingers would automatically type in the address only to be met with disappointment when I couldn’t log in.

This process went on for a while until it really truly sunk in that they were gone forever (or at least until our final deadline is over).

I did, however, have a moment of weakness when I caved into my addiction. You see, there’s this magical little button called “forget your password” and what you do is click it and then voila! It is back! Hello Facebook, social networking, and the inevitable cyber black hole.

It was truly glorious for a little bit. But then I got stuck. I ended up falling back into my old habits where I did nothing but scroll, keep scrolling, and then continue to scroll. My eyes glazed over, I slouched down, kicked up my feet, and submitted to the Internet.

The next time I looked at the clock it was 9:30 p.m., and I still had homework to get done. A lot of homework. I closed the tab, and got to work. It took what felt like forever to finish all the work, and I was starting to get a little delusional towards the end (I looked back at the notes I took in my exhausted state–you can’t read any of them).

I felt extremely guilty. I had promised my most trusted person to hold my password and given my word that I would stick with it. It feels really bad when you not only let someone else down, but let yourself down.

I have my Facebook back, but strictly for journalistic purposes only. This means I’m only allowed to go online to interview people, not scroll through pictures and read posts all night. I have yet to log into my Tumblr account.

It’s been about a week now, and I’m sure I’ve lost all my followers.

But, on the bright side, it feels great to be free from the vicious cycle the “interwebs” posed on my work schedule. Perhaps someday you will be brave enough to log out for good, but for now I’m enjoying Social Siberia all by myself with no likes, reposts, comments, or scrolling.

This is Amanda Lee, logging out for a couple of weeks!