Social Break Series Day Seven :: I checked Facebook, y'all!

​10:08am I am noticing that I am not “checking in” with this journal near as much as I was seven days ago. I suspect that this habit of checking into social media is loosening it’s grip. That is good news. 

And I am noticing that my social break is also beginning to lose its novelty. I woke this morning feeling a little indifferent about the project. Is it possible that I’m experiencing some success and am now taking it for granted? Possibly and yet more so, I suspect that I am officially moving into the next chapter of this social break. The honeymoon phase has worn off and now, it’s about the relearning the day-to-day living without social. 

I may or may not have mentioned that it’s my intention to take a break from social media for 30+ days. As a matter of fact, I was thinking of timing my break with Lent and wrapping up around April 20th but since this isn’t a “religious” experiment for me, I didn’t think it needed mentioning. It just felt like a good time of year to take on a challenge like this since so many others are taking on similar challenges although probably for different reasons. 

I wonder, what is the next chapter of this social break? Will it be mundane? Will I learn anything? Will I let my guard down? Will my peace and productivity continue to increase with  prolonged exposure to IRL?

Stay tuned!

In other news, I feel compelled to mention that I DID check social media last night for 10 minutes. I set a timer. 

We sold our RV yesterday and I wanted to mark it sold on Craig’s List and Facebook Marketplace and so allowed myself a 10 minute check in. 

I noticed that there were several people waiting to be approved into a group that I administer and have made a note to change the settings to auto-approve members into the group so that I don’t have to worry about this in the future. 

I also noticed that most of my notifications were for things that were inconsequential or irrelevant. There were a few Messenger messages that were slightly more relevant but still unnecessary. 

When the ten minutes were up and my timer automatically shut down the app, I noticed that I didn’t feel cheated. I wasn’t tempted to re-open the app and do anything further. I noticed that I was satisfied with the 10 minutes I had spent getting my business done and taking a quick glance for births, deaths, marriages and other life events. 

Which reminds me, a client DID have a baby and posted about it on Facebook and I felt a small twinge of remorse for not contributing to the string of comments with my own heartfelt Congratulations! but I had already congratulated her before my break when her significant other posted about the event and tagged her in the post. So, I let it go. 

I’m reminded of a quote by Robin Sharma, “The mind is a wonderful servant and a terrible master.” That is how I’m feeling about social media these days. It’s a useful tool when used in mindful ways. As soon as it crosses the line into being the master of your time, actions, peace of mind etc., we can see the law of finishing returns in action.

What are your social media goals? How do you measure your effectiveness?