Social Media Break

My #1 impression so far, after using probably 99% less social media this week than I have any week in the past 10+ years:

The old adage is true. “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” (Lose it= the desire to use it.)

I am quite honestly SHOCKED at how I feel about this whole experiment. Backing up a little….prior state social media use, I was feeling very “addicted” to it. Meaning, I found myself opening FB and/or IG MANY times throughout the day. (Embarrassingly), sometimes maybe in the range of dozens? I’m not sure exactly. I didn’t typically spend “long”- these were always “quick checks”-but I checked it frequently. In. Out. In. Out. Scroll scroll scroll.

(*Since the new year, I had done some rehab to my social media time, so I’ve had some stretches of much more controlled use. But I also still had spurts of what I would deem excessive– for me- use. Just TOO OFTEN. And it had ramped back up again lately.)

Since June 1st, I have officially checked Facebook twice (maybe 15 minutes each time). On both of these occasions, I have ended up feeling overwhelmed.

Why? Well, I think mostly because it is CRAZY how much stuff gets posted in the span of a few days. When you aren’t in there checking it every hour, it really piles up! In my allotted 15- 20 minutes of time, I started scrolling….and soon it was like, whoa! This is a lot. Last day of schools! Graduations! Sports pics! Vacations! Fun times! I had to cut it short, because it was just TOO MUCH all at once.

Don’t get me wrong- I love seeing all of that stuff, overall. That’s what I actually LIKE about Facebook- seeing the happy faces of people I know and care about. I am a hard pass on snarky, opinionated shared articles, but I ADORE creeping on other people’s vacation photos. 🙂 And it makes me smile to see cute pictures of other peoples’ kids (and celebrate their accomplishments).

But I don’t know, my perspective has changed some, after a little step back.

I have found myself not wanting to open Facebook. I thought I would feel this major urge. But I don’t! Actually, on the contrary. Last night I considered opening it, but I thought, “Nah. I’m really not in the mood to scroll through all of that right now.” It actually feels way nicer to just…sit there. Or do something else!

I have a tiny bit of FOMO (fear of missing out). What is happening “out there” that I don’t know about???? But in general, ignorance is bliss. LOL. I guess if I don’t know I’m missing it, I’m none the worse off. (Though if I know you in real life, and something really exciting or important happens that I need to know about- text me!! 😉 )

Not sure my long term plans with this. For now (for June), I’m just planning to continue these semi-scheduled occasional check ins, but mostly on a break. I’m not sure I want to totally “lose touch” with my 500 facebook friends though. (lol. I have very few close friends in real life, so it’s kind of ironic and probably a bit telling that I feel so “connected” to my semi-imaginary virtual friends. “Connected” in quotes, because it is probably debatable how “connected” we really are if only via occasional, random FB posts.)

I also do enjoy posting certain updates myself. It’s fun to scroll back over the years and see my own little “highlight reel”! 🙂

I’ll try to share more thoughts on this as they arise. It’s really the first time I’ve stepped back a little from social media in YEARS, so it’s just been interesting.

Couple summer pics:

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful for flexibility to be able to do things like breakfast out with the boys on a work day.