Tomorrow I will re-enter the world of Social Networking....AHHHHHH!
Giving up Facebook and Pinterest for the WHOLE 40 days of Lent was hard at times and then again, really not so hard at all.
Here was my experience on my journey of 'unplugging' from social media:
Day 1 and 2 - SUPER hard not to turn on the computer or phone without instinctively wanting to open either site.
Week 1 - Super easy because we were out of the country and didn't have access to any phones or computers for a week.
Week 2 - I don't even think to type in either website to my browser any longer. The problem is that I get really annoyed when I have valid reasons to need to use either website. I am annoyed when I want to message someone and I don't have their cell phone number and a Facebook message would be so easy. Or when I am doing a project and I know I pinned directions on my boards. I basically ended up Googling forever until I found the same website I had on Pinterest {does that defeat the purpose?}
Week 3 - I gave in a little with Facebook. While I was still REALLY good about not looking at anything on my page or the news feed, I had to help Phil start planning his 10 year high school reunion and I couldn't put it off any longer. Of course the only way I knew how to get in touch with anyone from his class was through Facebook. I have allowed myself to use only the messages and only for the purpose of planning the reunion. Surprisingly, I am not even tempted to look around on Facebook. I think it is because I have SO many other projects I would rather be doing!
Week 4 - With the exception of a few messages about the reunion, I was neither tempted nor wanted to get on either site.
Week 5 - It no longer even crosses my mind that I am missing Facebook or Pinterest.
Week 6 - I am almost sad that the time is coming when I can rejoin social networking sites. I have accomplished so much since not having them available that I almost don't have an interest in going back to using them. This could be a good thing though, hopefully I will stay this course and when I do use them, use them more sparingly.
Lessons learned:
My goals by unplugging were to spend the time I was wasting on social media to grow in my walk with God, be more intentional with the time I had with Emrie and finish up a few house projects.
Here is what I found happened when I 'unplugged' from Facebook and Pinterest...I STILL FOUND WAYS TO WASTE TIME!!!
If I want to waste time, or I have the time to waste, I realized I am going to do it...period!
Initially, I expected that I would take the time I used to spend on those websites to read my Bible and pray. While I did read my daily devotional {a whole 2 minutes of my time} every day for 40 days, I didn't REALLY invest much more time than I use to for my Spiritual Walk. I just shifted my time-wasting websites. Instead of Facebook, I looked at shopping websites. Instead of Pinterest, I surfed other people's blogs. Instead of either of those I started CRAFTING!!! SHAME ON ME!!!
However, it did help me to be more intentional with the time spend with Emrie because while I still wasted a lot of time on the Internet or doing crafts while she was sleeping, I found that while she was awake I hardly EVER pulled out my cell phone and NEVER picked up my computer. I think because I knew I didn't have my standard 2 mindless websites to brows on my phone, I just didn't even pick it up. This has been a WONDERFUL month with my little girl. We have done more stuff together and I have grown more patient with her. I took time to slow down and enjoy just being with her and SADLY it is because I wasn't wishing she would take a nap so I could surf the Internet to get ideas for my next project.
As for finishing projects, it was slightly annoying to get them done without Pinterest and I think I ended up defeating the purpose of not having some place to pin ideas because I just ended up saving them to my desk top. I will admit that when I was looking for project ideas, I did keep my search more narrow and wasted less time than just perusing all the stuff and coveting so much on Pinterest.
This wasn't meant to be an experiment. It was meant to be a sacrifice for Lent to remind me of the sacrifice Christ made for me.
However, there were about five overall lessons I learned from all of this:
1. Social media isn't what is keeping me from growing spiritually, my own selfishness is...my selfishness with my time and resources.
2. I didn't spend as much time on Facebook as I originally thought and it was pretty easy to give up.
3. Pinterest was a much bigger waste of my time, but if I use it correctly I do gain a lot from it {recipes, workouts, sewing tips}.
4. Social media isn't that bad if you use it the right way.
5. If I want to waste time I am going to regardless of social media...I have to be my own time manager...period.
