I’d seen and heard of people going on a social media fast and thought, “wow”, they must really be addicted to this stuff. I never thought I was one to be “addicted”. I’m only on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and I wasn’t one to have to scroll through to the last post I saw every time I checked in. I never really considered social media to be that necessary and important… until I took my own 21-day fast. I was fully committed to my fast too. I took all the apps off my phone and turned off all notifications. The first few days was a little strange but I didn’t feel like I was going through any withdrawals. I kept checking my phone to see what had “popped up” since the last time I checked it. And there was nothing each time. Could it be true? Was I really one of those people whose smartphone primarily was used to keep instant tabs on the goings on of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter? Yikes!!! By the end of the first week I was used to the phone silence. I’d look up and a whole morning had passed and I hadn’t checked my phone once. By the end of the second week I’d forget it was in my purse until I had to make a call or answer one. Imagine that, only using a phone for making or receiving calls. It wasn’t that I had been spending too much time on social media, but the thoughts and curiosity of it all was invading my brain space too much and causing me to lose focus. If I was in the middle of writing a blog post I’d stop and check the phone when a certain light was flashing or I heard a notification sound; Or, if I was waiting in line for something I’d whip it out and start scrolling through posts. By the end of the second week I was leaving the phone in the car when I went places and I didn’t think about what was happening on Instagram or Facebook at all. So I know I can live without it.
Of course it is an excellent tool for the dissemination of information so I will continue to utilize those platforms for that. But being off of it for a period of time has caused me to have more discipline with its use. For one, I’ll continue to leave the notifications off. I will only check my phone on lunch, at the end of the day or if I find myself in some waiting room. In the end, I realized that while these social platforms can be used for good, if used incorrectly they can cause me to veer off track, and hinder or derail movement towards a goal. I never want to be “hooked” on anything. So I think I’ll take this fast annually to monitor my social media engagement and make sure I am controlling it and its not controlling me.
