Absence of social media makes the heart grow fonder
I need a vacation.
Not a weekend get-away, where you sleep in, see where the day takes you, and return refreshed and ready to tackle the next few months. I need a Facebook vacation.
Some people need a cup of coffee (or five) to get through their morning. My morning jolt is checking my Facebook. Scrolling through my newsfeed makes me feel like a good friend for knowing “what’s on their mind?,” as our status box asks. It makes me feel prepared to tackle my day. But my newsfeed is mindless mush, consisting of a few inspirational quotes sandwiched between lots of whining, pictures of moments not many people care about, but, most of all, absolutely worthless nonsense.
Admittedly, it’s not just in the morning, it seems like I waste hours throughout my day repeating this habit every time I open my iPad. That is pretty pathetic.
So for three days, I bid farewell to my beloved time-waster in an attempt to regain some dignity.
To start my day, I exercised. I was actually early to work most of those days and managed to read a few articles I tagged weeks back to end my night. Three points: Tracy. However, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing something. I did have one moment where I accidentally tapped on that adorable little blue app with an “f”, but I immediately threw the iPad across the bed. Point: Facebook.
As the days went on, I rewarded myself by texting a different friend every time I thought about Facebooking. That started some great conversations and also filled my social calendar for the next few weeks. That’s way better than getting a Facebook e-vite.
When I returned from my vacation, I was jazzed to see one personal congratulations message and 18 notifications. It wasn’t even my birthday! After my break, I can now appreciate it for what makes it useful in my life- It’s my social life/friend manager. I can message people, organize a social calendar, and wish almost everyone I’ve ever met in my life a happy birthday. I focus on that now, not all of the nonsense and eCards, regardless of how funny they are. I have Pinterest for that.
