social media fast

for a little bit now, a few friends and i have been "choosing" to be present when with each other.  in other words, we choose to not text, tweet, update, draw, or whatever else you do on a smart phone when we're in each other's company.  we're trying our best to be present and have real and meaningful conversations/relationships.

sometimes we're good at it.  other times we're not.  but we're good at reminding each other.  haha.

friday night, a bunch of us from new denver church were hanging out after our softball games.  one of our pastors, norton, was hanging with us and the topic of twitter came up.  norton, who has intentionally stayed off of twitter/facebook and rocks a text/call only cellphone, challenged us.  he challenged us to give up social media for a month.  there was a lotta push back.  you know, we jokingly called him an "old crotchety man," "old school," or stuck in the "dinosaur ages."  i jokingly joined in on the push back.

photo credit: gethiredfast.com

to my surprise, norton affirmed that social media is good, that there are benefits from it...to a certain extent.  but he also made the letgimate point that we're not as intentional with our relationships now that we have social media.

like i said, at first i kinda pushed back.  but as he was saying it, i realized i resonated with him.  i realized that it's a lot easier to shoot a text, update, tweet rather then pick up the phone and call someone or to sit down with them over coffee, lunch, whatever.

so, i decided to give it a go.  a month without twitter, facebook, instagram.  i mean it's not a big deal. but it kind of is.

here's what i felt as i decided to give it up:
-relief.  weird, but i felt relieved that i didn't always have to be checking/updating/tweeting/liking, etc.
-worry.  admittedly, i've worried that i'll "miss out" on something or that i won't be "in the know."

i'm 24 hours in to the "fast" so it's too soon to make any solid analysis of it.  that said, i'm kind of embarrassed to admit that i've definitely, out of habit/routine, pulled my phone out to check some piece of social media on several occasions.  and while working on my computer, i've definitely typed "f-a-c-e-b-o-o-k" in my browser bar a few times.  it's habit.  weird.

soooo...now that i'll gain at least an hour a day...who want's to be intentional with me?  ;)

much love.

(and the jury is still out on whether or not blogging is social media.  writing/blogging is an "outlet" for me so i will do it from time to time, just not "obsess" over comments, stats, etc.)