The Anti-Social Experiment

Remember when I fasted from social media for eleven days last year? Well, a few months ago I was thinking about how much stress and chaos I was feeling and was praying for a solution. The prompting I got was to take Facebook off my phone. It wasn't to leave Facebook completely, just make it less accessible.

I usually scrolled through it while I nursed Topher or while I was on my own in the kitchen making dinner, not while the kids were around. I thought it was less obtrusive on my phone, so I was kind of surprised at that answer. But I followed it anyway.

That was about two months ago. The first few weeks were harder than I thought they would be. I felt cutoff and kind of isolated, even though I would check in on the laptop after the kids had gone to bed. And then I felt like my nights were suddenly swallowed up in scrolling through Facebook posts, trying to catch up.

But gradually I got used to not having immediate access to the social network. And I realized that I felt more present during the day. It's not that I had been on my phone constantly before the switch. But I discovered that often I would read a post from someone in the morning that bothered me or amused me and then my brain would stick to that rather than to whatever else I was supposed to be doing. And, what do you know, being present helps me to be a better parent and spouse and human being in general.

I still check in for a few minutes each day, mostly to keep up with family and the schools and my ward. But I don't feel the same drive to READ ALL THE POSTS that I felt before. I know I can never be on twitter because I would feel compelled to be caught up on every tweet, and then I would never do anything else. It's refreshing to know that I can read a few updates, then close the computer and walk away.

This anti-social experiment has been successful. I plan to keep it going.