A few Sunday’s ago while watching a youth fireside with my 14 year old I heard President Nelson extent a challenge to the youth the church: find 7 days and fast from social media. My 14 year old looked at me gave me a big high five! As far as social media goes, the kid has an Instagram account, but rarely uses it. And I mean rarely, like maybe once every 6 months. He had this one in the bag! But me? Did this challenge extent to me? Technically President Nelson extended it to the youth of the church. I’m not a youth! So technically I could have been exempt. But I was intrigued by the idea! Could I do this? I would need to modify slightly for my online businesses. I deleted Facebook and Instagram apps from my phone but did log into Facebook from a computer once a day 3 days of the 7 to check on my R+F Team feeds. Just because I choose to fast didn’t mean that they needed too and I still needed to support them. I did end up downloading Instagram again halfway through the week but used it simply for the messenger to contact people. I also kept FB Messenger and Marco Polo the entire week. But all in all I feel I was successful in the challenge! Today I thought I would share 6 things that I learned from the experience!
6 Things I Learned From My Social Media Fast
1. Distraction can come in many different forms! Did I spend way more quality time with my kids and family since I wasn’t on social social media? Maybe. Maybe not. But I also found there were plenty of other things to distract me. I found I really just reached for my phone in times of boredom. Bedtime was one example: I said goodnight, closed the kids door, and reached for my phone. Another day I woke up early (like 3am early) and couldn’t sleep. It was so tempting to reach for my phone. Instead I simply found other things to fill that void. I finished one book, read another 500+ page novel, started another novel and read half of another non-fiction book. Which leads me to number 2
2. I thought priorities would shift and good things that are hard would become easier. Aka: reading my scriptures. I know I should do it and it’s a priority. But it’s hard for me. Maybe this is just me – but it is SO hard to read every my scriptures every day. Seriously….I read over 100 books a year, but my scriptures are hard for me???!!! I envisioned reading half the Book of Mormon for even finishing it! But it was still hard for me. I did set a new goal to finish this summer and caught myself up to be on track for that. But the void of social media didn’t make it any easier.
3. I had to use different communication to find information. We had a stray chicken in our backyard one day last week, instead of just posting on the Ward Facebook page, I had to text individuals. It really wasn’t a huge deal, but I had to rethink how I normaly thought. I really missed Facebook though this weekend, my husband and I and a couple friends ran the Dirty Dash race on Saturday and so much information was on their Facebook page versus their website. Sure, we ran it and survivors just find, but looking at the page today seeing some of that information would have been helpful.
4. That voice in the back of my head, that seems to say to me a lot that I’m not good enough? I wish I could say it went away. But it didn’t. I think that is something I just need to work on.
5. I do run a couple businesses online though – Rodan+Fields and My Reading Spot, both of these are run on social media and both are sources of income for our family. I thought and prayed about this before starting. President Nelson did not ask us to not go to work for a week. But I could work both of these without Facebook and Instagram from my phone. One of the main reasons I logged on the few times I did from the computer was to support my R+F team. The month isn’t over, (so the verdict is still out!) but I still blogged, I regrouped a few more ideas about my Facebook and Instagram page and I found I could still work by R&F business with messenger and talking face to face with people! Imagine that!
6. I think my biggest take away is that social media isn’t bad. I just need to use it purposely. I can use it to document life, that is important, but do it with intent. I don’t need to post that I went on a walk just so my friends can see I did it or get likes. But if I’m posting that I went on a walk so I can share an inspirational thought that came to me on it, or because I want to remember that stage of life that isn’t a bad thing! One of the whole reasons I started blogging 12 years ago was to journal our family life. Facebook and Instagram can be the same thing!
Social media is about connecting and finding friends. It’s about sharing. It’s about documenting life and can even be a form of journaling! It can be a source of income, a livelihood. But like anything else in life you need to have balance.
In the end, what did I learn and what will I change, if anything? I hope to post with more purpose and share with intention. I hope to spend my time wisely and not use it for a crutch when I am bored.
Besides, I have books for that, right? 😉
