Defriending Facebook

by Rachel Ruff

Defriending Facebook is the raw, autobiographical account of award-winning CNN producer Rachel Ruff's four-year addiction to Facebook. This is the story of one woman's desire to showcase an enviable life on Facebook, while nearly destroying her self-image and devotion to loved ones, bringing her dangerously close to taking her own life. Her memoir inspires us to return to life before the existence of virtual relationships.

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 20, 2014

About the author

Rachel Ruff is an award-winning CNN producer turned ad-agency executive. Ruff served as a Vice President of Porter Novelli in Washington, DC, where she used her media industry insight and extensive CNN experience to oversee digital media and broadcast media projects.

Rachel Ruff managed and produced the “Dr. Sanjay Gupta Primetime” documentaries at CNN and created segments related to food and health for the CNN “American Morning” show. She earned the honor of being the youngest producer for the network in 1997 and produced the first-ever “World Aids Day” documentary in 2004.

Rachel graduated from the University of Florida with a communications degree and a pre-med concentration and holds a Pastry Arts degree with Honors from L’Academie De Cuisine in Gaithersburg, Maryland. She completed an externship working for White House chefs Anne Amernick and Frank Ruta.

In the spring of 2013, her original salmon recipe was published by Penguin in the Pike Place Fish Guys cookbook, the dish earned placement as a cover photo.

Rachel resides in Denver, Colorado and is working on her next book.

Reviews

[Tanna Shelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing book! I won this is the first reads giveaway and was excited to receive it in the mail today! I read the back to fully see what it was about and then opened it up to check it out and ended up not being able to put it down. This was such a real and inspiring book to read. For anyone who feels like they are spending to much of their time on Facebook and trying to live up to a life that seems more appealing to everyone else this is the book for you. I have spent to much time on Facebook, reading all of my friends statuses and thinking that my life didn't compare to the exciting things that was going on in theirs. To read her real experience with Facebook and how she overcame the addiction to it was very inspiring. I absolutely loved the quotes at the beginning of each chapter and how they seemed to perfectly fit what she was talking about at that time. This was a great book and very beneficial to someone like me who would like to become less engaged in Facebook and the addiction of social media! Thank you for picking me to win this book and I will be recommending it to all of my friends.

[Liz Sergent · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw this book on my "to Read" shelf on Goodreads and thought it would be a good read on how to get off FB. This was a laugh at times out loud read. Overall my Facebook obsession isn't close to what this author went through, people stealing items from her house and then the drama on social afterwards.....Enjoyed this book and appreciated the comments about connecting with people because the don't see you online. I feel that I don't see people like I used to because of FB but then again, it also helps me to see what they are up to.

[James Sorensen]

I won this book as part of the Goodreads First-Read program.