Fun book promotes digital detox

If you start marking things you like with Post-It notes, you might be a Facebook addict.

If your mom lets you know that dinner is ready by posting on your wall, instead of coming to your room, you might be a Facebook addict.

If on your first date, you suggest changing your relationship status to "in a relationship," you might be a Facebook addict.

Those situations and more at the heart of a humorous new book that promotes a break from the digital world that the general population seems to be engulfed in.

Live Consciously Publishing hosted the launch party of Gemini Adams' new book "The Facebook Diet: 50 Funny Signs of Facebook Addiction and Ways to Unplug with a Digital Detox" in the Writers' Bootcamp space at Bergamot Station last Thursday.

The theme of the night was "Get Unplugged," which is also the name of the book series that Adams is producing — the Facebook book being the first. Excerpts from the book hung on the wall, and after Adams gave a presentation, the audience enjoyed a musical performance and a yoga session.

Attendees were also able to have their pictures taken in a booth with a pink, fuzzy backdrop.

The book is meant to be "tongue in cheek," but also to have a serious message, Adams said.

"I wanted to kind of tickle people into awareness," she said.

Adams came up with the idea for the series after realizing that she was spending more and more time on Facebook and writing in front of a computer screen. After getting a break from her digital world by doing illustrations outside, she wanted to find out other ways that society as a whole can live their lives.

"It just sucks us in and it's hard to control that sometimes," Adams said about the ease of getting lost in social networking.

There are currently over one billion users on Facebook. As of December 2012, 67 percent of adults online use social networking sites, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Alexandra Hernandez, 25, said she deleted her Facebook in order to help her get over a recent breakup. At first, she struggled.

"The first week or two, I felt really isolated," she said.

But after awhile, she got used to not being so connected to the digital world, and now enjoys the feeling of having face-to-face connections with people in her life.

"I feel like the older you get, the less continuity you have in your life," she said. "So I feel like I spend the majority of my time communicating with my friends, but just not on a social network."

Tom Hummel, publisher of the book, said that while he does have a Facebook account, he does not use it very often because it becomes "some sort of compulsion" when he checks it, and considers the popular social networking site as "a way to kill time."

However, he also sees a positive aspect of social networking as a whole.

"I think that it actually serves a purpose for a lot of poeple that dont have a lot of time and still want to keep up on what their friends are doing," Hummel said. "It's a good way to keep in touch."

Hummel likes to detach from the digital world by reading.

"If i get sucked into a good book, I cant wait to pick it up again," he said. "I don't feel that way same way about facebook."

Steven Releford, 24, said he does not think it is that easy to completely let go of social networking.

"It's almost like it's hard to detach because we have so many aliases and so many like parts of us that are on social media," he said, "so we feel like we have to control these different worlds that were also simultaneously a part of and that kinda takes you out of the present sometimes."

Hernandez said she feels that letting go of the digital crutch can benefit others.

"I think it could be a good reminder just to kind of enjoy the moment," she said.

Adams will release diet books on Twitter, Youtube and Instagram in the future.