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Monday, November 25, 2013

More With Less: Part Two

A couple of weeks into my first semester of college, my roommate asked me if I had heard of a new thing called "Facebook." Within about ten minutes, she had opened my account. I had trouble finding many of my friends from high school in Colorado because Facebook was only at a dozen or so east and west coast universities at the time. My, how things change!

Now, nine years in, I am totally addicted.

I often find myself in the middle of a little life happening, and rather than enjoying whatever is going on, I try to figure out a clever status update. When I post something new, I wait with anticipation to see if anyone will comment and how many likes it will garner as if that will satisfy me. It doesn't. When someone takes a good picture of me, I immediately think, "profile picture!" During the first few weeks of Grace's life, I remember waking up at ungodly hours to breastfeed her and scrolling through my newsfeed to help keep me awake.

This summer, I got so sick of it all that I told myself, "Self, you may only go on Facebook twice a week!" I threw an inner temper tantrum, but stuck to my guns and discovered that 
  • Not that much happens on Facebook anyway. Even after several days of being off, I'd only have about ten minutes of catching up to do.
  • I felt happier. Perhaps this was because I was more present to my life rather than always looking at others' lives.
  • I wrote more blog posts during that period than I did before I had a baby. Again, I was caring for a little baby and starting a law firm and, because I wasn't going on Facebook, I had enough time to write more than I ever had before! (I thought a lot about the concept of creating over ingesting when I read this short, inexpensive ebook.)
After several weeks of following my little rule, I decided I had enough self control to ditch it. I soon found myself well on my way to living and breathing Facebook again. So, I recently re-instituted a rule: I only go on Facebook on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and my friend, Ingrid, is holding me accountable.

I am committed to living a life where entertainment isn't my knee jerk reaction to quiet spaces in my day. For me, Facebook is my achilles' heel, but I've also trimmed down a couple of other areas over the past months and years. I read just one or two books at a time so that I can really soak them in. I rarely go on Pinterest, mostly using it as a tool for organizing interesting things so that it's not another website to browse through. I also don't watch TV unless there is a show that Michael and I are especially excited to follow. (Most recently: MasterChef Junior. So fun!)

I still enjoy reading, Facebooking, Pinteresting, etc., but I enjoy them so much more now that they are not central in my life.

~

I wrote a post last week about how much richer my life feels when I do fewer things, take in less information, and own less stuff. This is part two of that post.

3 comments:

  1. Great post! It reminds me of this spoken word by Propaganda: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5y2GKk6sOI

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  2. I go through cycles with it. Sometimes I feel like it's my major connection to so many people that I love. Other times, I have to remind myself to go on and check to see if I have important messages waiting or to check on specific things. It certainly can be a big time inhaler.

    Pinterest? Another cyclical thing for me. I think sometimes it's just nice to look at pretty things or clever ideas. Sometimes I have specific reasons for being there--like finding a recipe. Other times? I have no purpose and it wastes my life. Thankfully those times are significantly less than they used to be.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, I feel very similarly to you. Social media is such an amazing tool that can spark creativity and connect us to people. But, it can be so hard to not get too addicted! Maybe someday I'll have it completely under control!

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