Giving up Social Media
“The strongest principle of growth lies in the human choice.”
For a while I felt like I needed to take a break from social media. I could tell it was an addiction for me and I was putting too much stock in the engagement or lack there was I was getting. When the start of lent was getting close I was talking to friends about lent. I normally don’t give up anything for lent mostly because I don’t want to give up something just to give up something. I haven’t felt the nudges to give up something like this before. If I have I didn’t listen to them and clearly didn’t do it. On the evening of Wednesday, February 26th 2020(the start of lent this year) I finally deleted facebook and twitter off my phone. I didn’t take snapchat off because I hardly go on it. I often forget it’s on my phone and I don’t have many people I follow on there. I’ve been on it maybe 5 times in the last 6 months. I am addicted to the most to Instagram and I didn’t initially delete it off my phone. I had a couple drafts and I didn’t want to lose them which would have happened if I deleted it. I set a minute limit on it which is easy to by-pass and I found myself doing that. I wasn’t nearly spending as much time on it as I normally would have but I was still not doing what I felt like God was calling me to. I did delete it about 3 or 4 days later and its has stayed off my phone. When Illinois got the Stay At Home order because of Coronavirus I was at my parents house. I thought I would download it back it on my phone when I got home and so I was able to connect with others. I was talking to a friend about it and she encouraged me not to because she said that God called me to do it for a reason. I’m glad I listened to her and didn’t do it. I went through a couple of days that were tough because I was home alone and wasn’t connecting with people like I would have liked. I was feeling like I didn’t people care about me which I know isn’t true but I think would have felt more lonely if I went on social media. I would probably have seen people being with each other and it would have reinforced what I was feeling.
I’m grateful for the time I have off of it because it has helped me stay off my phone more. I find I’m looking around more and seeing what’s happening around me more. I have to admit I don’t miss the endless scrolling. I didn’t how much I was opening the apps and just scrolling until I deleted all of them off. I would go to the folder I had them without even thinking and then I would stare at my phone with a confusion for a moment trying to figure out why I was in this folder and why I was on my phone. There were a couple of times I didn’t even mean to open my phone. I just did it on impulse and habit. It feels like I have my life back in some ways. I defiantly have my mind back. I’m able to use the mind power and boredom that come with not having social media into my creativity. I have found things to photography that I wouldn’t think to do or if I did I wouldn’t have time for. I have had time to learn things that I would have thought wasn’t possible for me at one point. I feel like I’m more productive and I find I’m not so emotionally attacked to what others think of my work. Mostly because not as many people are seeing it. That tune might change when I’m back on social and I’m seeing the engagement or lack there of. I plan on setting limits on my social media intake after lent is over. I don’t want it taking over my life again. I will put Instagram back on my phone because it’s harder to post and engage if I don’t. I do miss insta on occasion. There have been times that I would have loved to have done a Instagram story. I plan on setting a 30 minute timer on it just to set boundaries for myself. I’m going to reach out to people to help keep me accountable. I don’t plan on putting Facebook back on because I can do whatever I need to on the computer or on browser on my phone if I need to. I haven’t decided on Twitter yet. I might put it back on my phone because it’s a source of news. I will probably leave it off for now and download it when I feel like I want it back on my phone. Did you give up anything for lent? How did it go for you?
