If you have a Facebook or Twitter and are active like me, you probably are
involved in the daily carousel of posts, comments, news, and shares. It starts
when you awake. You wipe your sleepy eyes, grab the cellular device, open your
social media apps, and check to see what you missed while you were dreaming
about that bear chasing you. You get out of the shower, dry off, and check it
again. Your just about at work and find yourself at a stop light. Instead of
thinking for yourself, taking in the scenery, maybe being mindful for a moment;
you habitually check social media once again to see what’s happening. This
cycle goes on all day long for the majority of people who utilize these
platforms.
As I was sitting on my couch last week watching tv, my wife brought to my
attention how much I was checking Facebook lately. I would watch tv for a few
minutes, check Facebook. Go to the bathroom, come back, and check Facebook. I
was doing this probably 50-100 times a day. I feel that in our society today, I
am not in the minority of people who live their lives like this. After a
discussion, my wife and I decided to challenge each other to live as if it
never existed. We were going to delete our Facebook and Twitter apps from our
phone and see how it would feel after a week.
The first day was hard I must admit. My habit was to go to the social media
folder, and open Facebook when I had a free moment. Not having the app made it
a lot harder. Through days one through three, I broke down a few times and used the browser
to peruse. After day four, I think I checked it one or two times for only a
minute. As the week went on, I cared less about what others were doing and
invested more time into my life. It honestly felt good to break my mind of the
habit and think for myself again. Some of the things I noted about the week
through reflection were:
1. Who cares what others are up to all the time. Spend less time worrying
about them and focus on living your life to the fullest. I found I have had way
more time to work on important things in life rather than wasting my life on
worrying about what others are up to.
2. Honestly, anytime I did something fun in life, it was in my mind, “take a
picture and share it on social media.” It was so temping during that week to
share the places I went to, my new walkway I completed, where I was running,
etc. I now realize that sometimes the best memories don't need to be shared
with the world, only with the people who truly care.
3. Stop comparing your life to others. One of the worst things about
Facebook is we look to see what others are up to and then we compare our life
to theirs. Recently, I saw someone’s post say, "OK, you all can stop
getting engaged now." Basically what that person is says is, "I am
not happy in my life and I am tired of seeing others getting engaged."
Stop wishing it would happen, put the device down, and live your life.
4. I didn’t miss out on anything. I'll say that again. I DID NOT MISS OUT ON
ANYTHING. What I had been missing out on is doing things to make myself a
stronger person like reading, learning to program, brainstorming ideas,
exercising, etc.
After going through the process, I feel I have a new perspective on life
that has been deprived from me since I bought a smart phone with these apps on
it. Truly, I feel liberated. Liberated from the habitual cycle of wasting time
caring about what others are doing that is more fun than what I am doing right
now. I am now into week two and have no reason to install the apps back onto my
phone. Do I plan to use Facebook again and post? Sure. Will I check it 50 times
a day again? No way. Life has been more enjoyable and I am choosing to live out
there instead of inside of device. Try it. How long can you go?
-RD
