Social Media Free update: 2 months in

After 2 months of being Facebook and Instagram FREE, here are the things I find I do and do not miss.

What I DO miss:

  • Seeing all of the updates, silly or serious, from my friends and family to know how or what they’re doing.
  • Getting ideas from seeing what other people are learning or doing in their homes, schooling, parenting, reading, church, and work.
  • Asking questions to get others’ opinions, insights, suggestions. I love asking questions, so this has been something I have greatly missed.
  • I do miss being inspired and encouraged by others’ updates, as well as purposing to inspire and encourage others.

What I DO NOT miss:

  • Political tension
  • Surveys
  • Wasting time when I could be productive
  • The addiction that comes with social media
  • Caring about what others think
  • Feeling frustrated when others are critical
  • Finding myself being more judgmental than I care to admit (there truly is freedom from not knowing everything about everyone all of the time … ignorance truly is bliss)
  • How I stared at my Facebook page more than my own children’s Faces (real life “faces”, imagine that)
  • Feeling like I’m never doing enough as I compare my life to what I see in others’ FB lives
  • Having an opinion about everything I saw on Facebook
  • Getting quickly sucked in to scroll and scroll and scroll
  • Having a sore neck from looking down at my phone so much
  • Joining and leaving various groups … so much to keep track of in the News Feed
  • Following link after link after link which was another reason for getting sucked into Facebook and Instagram
  • Blocking people because I got so annoyed and frustrated with their whining, complaining, negativity, or arrogance
  • Having yet another thing to check when I got a new notification
  • Feeling compelled to respond to people, because it is the right and polite thing to do
  • Trying to keep up on all of the “latest”
  • Feeling guilty I didn’t wish people happy birthday when I saw it was their birthday
  • Finding so many things I wanted (but didn’t need) to buy on the local “garage sale” pages
  • Getting invited to so many local events and feeling lame for not going to them

As you can see, the lists are quite lopsided.

Overall, I currently find myself more content, less stressed, and just all around better. I am much more relaxed, in general. I am connecting more intentionally with people instead of relying on Facebook to give me the feeling (illusion?) of being connected.

I had absolutely no idea how much social media controlled my every day, until I cut the chains. My eyes were opened wide: freedom.

Even though I do miss a few aspects of it, I do not regret stepping away from social media … not for a single second.

To God be the Glory!