I spent the last 40 days fasting from social media.
<GASP!>
I know, right?! It seemed kind of crazy when I first decided to do it, but it really wasn’t all that hard to give up. In fact, it was a little freeing.
For the past few years, I’ve tried to fast from something each Lent season. A few years ago, it was meat. It is nice to take a break from something to help you feel refreshed and refocused on Christ and living life to the fullest.
Why did I choose social media? I was someone who checked Instagram at least 10 times a day (and that didn’t seem like a lot), and I had found myself recently feeling jealous of other people from their photos and updates. So, it was a good time to take a break.
Here’s what happened without social media:
I learned news from people vs. online
Although I did experience a bit of FOMO for the past month+, it was kind of fun to go back to hearing news straight from sources. My husband would come home and tell me something he saw online, or he would bring up something that I wouldn’t have heard about. It was refreshing to be able to celebrate or talk about our thoughts in person vs. alone.
I am looking forward to staying more up to date with local food and drink events by being back on social media, but I don’t think I need to check dozens of times per day to stay up to date.
I had lots more time and fewer worries (I think)
I feel like I had tons more free time to work, think, blog, plan and spend with others. It was kind of nice with the blog to not have to constantly think of creative ways to share it on social media (not that it’s a total bore), but I know it’s easier for many of you to get to my blog via social. It did seem like I didn’t go down jealous rabbit holes or feel down on myself as much, too. Oh, and it was a super busy few months at my job, so it was a good time to focus on that.
I really didn’t miss it, except for Insta photos
Overall, it was easy to quit and I enjoyed the benefit of not being bothered by keeping up with it all on social. I did miss posting my grocery videos, Insta photos and stories, and seeing all of yours — so I’m ready to get back to that.
My blog traffic went down, but didn’t disappear
As expected, my blog traffic did go down a little bit without me posting on social media, but it didn’t totally tank so that’s good. Thanks to all of you for sticking with me, and I’ll get back to alerting you of new posts on Facebook and Insta very soon! You can also subscribe via email on the right side (or bottom on mobile) of this page to get emailed whenever a new post goes up. I’m also considering sending out monthly fun update emails to subscribers, so you’ll wan to get on this train now!
I will likely return to social media with some boundaries
As mentioned, I’m going to come back to social, even though I think it was productive to have a little break. I’m going to only try to check things once or twice a day and feel free to take breaks as needed. I also need to get into automating my blog social posts (I know — I’m super late to the party on that one).
I would encourage anyone who feels that social media is not a positive influence on their life to take a break or get off of it completely. It is very freeing to not be attached to something, so you shouldn’t be afraid to do that if needed.
With all things, everything in moderation.