I don’t know you, but I know we’ve got a bad habit in common.

We open a web browser with the intent of checking our e-mail or downloading an assignment from D2L. And — without even meaning to — we go to Facebook, as if our fingers were 10 tiny nervous systems complete with minds of their own.

Like I said, I don’t know you, but I know you experience that same flash of self-loathing as you snap out of your Facebook coma and survey  your situation: a horizontal position in bed at 8 p.m. on a Tuesday with Cheez-It crumbs on your sweater and forty minutes spent clicking through photo albums of people you haven’t spoken to in four years – and their newborn babies.

That feeling of disgust is exactly why I deleted my Facebook.

I’ve deactivated my account before, but always with the intention of reactivating it in the near future. This time, for a whole plethora of reasons, I swear: it’s for real.

Facebook is a garbage dump we all contribute to and we never sift through. We upload photos of our pets wearing Halloween costumes and update our statuses with our whereabouts, and for whom?

We claim that we stay on the site “to keep in touch,” and that’s a huge insult to whoever we’re using a website to “keep in touch” with. Distance is an issue in college, but every generation before ours made it work.

But the reason that compelled me the most was the simplest: Facebook has no value.

Every time I used to open my laptop, I’d spend at least 10 minutes on Facebook. That would add up to at least an hour a day – a chunk of time that I could’ve otherwise used to read a few dozen pages from a book, run a couple miles or talk on the phone to out-of-state friends.

I have nothing to show for all the time I’ve spent on Facebook, and that makes me sick.

But no more.

If you ditch your social network, here’s to how to survive:

1. Find a new addiction
What do you like? Photography? Check out the New York Times’ photo blog, Lens. Make an account on goodreads.com to keep track of books you’ve read and books you want to read. Set your homepage to a news site. Watch your conversations with friends evolve from news feed activity (who’s in a relationship with who?) to actual, you know, news. There’s no shortage of cool stuff on the internet to make you question why you ever created a Facebook account.

2. Resist reactivation
Reactivating your account is too easy: all you need to do is log in once more. Don’t. You can always go back later to see your friend’s album from the weekend or to post a link on someone’s wall. In the meantime, remind yourself of the 10, 15, 20 other things you could do that carry more significance than some stalking or sharing. (Make a list. You’ll probably run out of paper.)

3. Step up your email game
Remember that photo album you wanted to see, and that link you never got to share? Ask your friend to e-mail you the best photos, and send that link via e-mail. People check their e-mail just as frequently as, if not more than, Facebook. Let it take the place of your social network. On top of being equally efficient, it’s also more private and secure.

4. Ease up
I thought I would miss out on events and party invites without my Facebook. Wrong. If anything, the absence of Facebook creates more opportunities. I’d never go to a party that someone had forgotten to send me a Facbeook invite to, for example. But not having a profile eliminates that potential awkwardness and makes everything seem more inclusive. So if you think that by hitting the “deactivate” button, you’re committing social suicide, you’ll be in for a pleasant surprise.

Now the end of the semester is approaching, and time is scarce. There couldn’t be a more perfect time to take a Facebook hiatus. But don’t worry, all your bad habits will be waiting for you when you log in again.