Life is unfolding all around me and I’m afraid I’m going to miss it.

Social media is sucking away minutes and hours of my life I’m supposed to be living!

Yesterday I logged out of Facebook on my phone so I couldn’t mindlessly start scrolling, only to realize with horror five minutes later that I’d switched to my tablet and was Facebooking it up..without thinking!

I don’t Instagram or Snapchat or Pinterest, but I still lose probably an hour a day looking at people’s pictures, clicking on videos or articles, or just scrolling through updates. 

What could I do with that hour? Take a walk? Meet a friend? Read a book?

How much of the day is lost for people who use all of the social media tools? I shudder to think.
The thing is, it’s not even helping us to actually connect. Sure, it’s nice that Uncle Leroy in Denver knows all about your trip to the Poconos, but “liking” someone’s baby pictures are not the same as going over and getting spit up on. Also, we can form false judgments based on a status or picture leading us to believe someone’s life is much more exciting than ours or that so-and-so is an idiot for voting a certain way.  If we actually spent time in conversation, we’d  get a much more rounded understanding of one another.

Superficial knowledge of what’s going on in the lives of five hundred people is no substitute for actual relationships. Who can keep up with five hundred people? In fact, social media has seriously screwed up the times we actually are together: everyone’s on their phones. That’s a big problem!

What really irks me is that I’m just as stinking addicted as anyone else.

I feel like we’ve all been tricked into missing the actual beauty of life and relationships while we stare at a little screen. No generation before has done this. Sure, TV (or “the boob tube” as my grandma calls it) and video games aren’t great either, but at least you can watch or play communally. Relaxing together watching a movie is totes acceptable..eating family dinner in silence by the glow of Facebook ? Not so much.

I’m drawing a line in the sand. 

Ten minutes of social media per day. That’s it. That way I can still keep up with notifications,invitations and see who had a baby or a birthday, but when my ten minutes are up, I’m out.

I’m starting with twenty-one days, because it’s the magic number to habit-forming. Afterwards, I feel confident I’ll want to continue. 

I want freedom. 

Yesterday I successfully stayed off Facebook  (after the tablet debacle) with only a minute quick-check around nine. Then, I was off again and read three chapters of a book I’ve had lying around for months. I felt peaceful. I had time to think about people I actually want to connect with. I texted my mom and a couple friends. I kept logged in to Messenger so that if anyone wanted to chat, we could. 

I don’t want to disconnect from people, just from virtual connectivity. I want the real deal and I’m excited for the next three weeks.

Who’s in? 

Ang