One Year ‘Unplugged’ Anniversary

A year ago today I pulled the plug on my social media account.  I thought I would miss it more, but outside of the few times I’ve snagged Kev’s phone to troll a friends page, I couldn’t be happier without it.  So in honor of my one year anniversary, I figured I’d note the things I’ve loved most about going ‘unplugged’.

#1…. The noticeable absence of righteous indignation.  You know what I’m talking about.  That moment you read a post with a polarized view on something you fall squarely in the opposite camp of, and all the feels well up in you.  And when I say all the feels, let’s be honest we’re talking about how quickly we decide that the person who posted is a moron that needs to check their facts.  Not my best self.

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#2  I SEE my people.  I’m not even talking about the people in my house.  Yes, I see more of them too, but I’m talking about my ‘community’.   Just before I got off FB last year, I learned of the passing of a sweet woman that attended our church, we’d hung out a few times and she had helped me a handful of times when I needed something.  I had brought her a couple meals when she was sick, but it hit me how much time I wasted during her sickness reading blogs, or following posts of people I’ve never even met because THEIR story was all over my news feed.  She was just down the street from me, and some of the people’s stories I had followed I had never, and likely will never meet.   I hate that.  I can’t change the past, but I’m thankful for the realization going forward.  I like to be connected just like everyone else, but I’m realizing how much more useful my time can be spent with people in my tangible community rather than a virtual one, and trying to build more meaningful relationships here.

#3 Time!  Honestly, I think God just had better foresight in this area than I did, because I have zero idea where I would have found the time to check Facebook.  I barely have time to compose a logical thought, and the sad thing is, if I still had my account I KNOW I would have made time to check it (or been sucked in, is probably more accurate).  The only place that time could have come from would have been time the kids needed me, and I probably would have been snarking at them because I was ‘busy’.    Good thinking God, thanks for not making me turn into more of a ‘momster’ than I already am :).

#4 PEOPLE TEXT ME!  I love this!  At least once a month I get a random text or email from someone that likely normally would have just checked my page, known what was going on with us, and kept right on trucking.  I LOVE these!!  It’s so fun knowing you’re on someone’s mind.  I’ve gotten somewhat better at this too.  I’d like to say I reach out to everyone, but if you recall I’m barely connecting coherent thoughts, so occasionally I’ll starting thinking about someone, and then right before the thought connects with my brain to reach out, a kid makes a mess or starts shrieking and POOF its gone :(.   I still have all your Christmas card faces on my wall though, so know you’re getting thought of regularly!  (This is a shameless plug to add us to your Christmas card list, because you KNOW how much I love those!)

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The only downsides have been the noticeable misses in major news updates…. Syria, Paris….. if anything else has happened I’m unaware, those two were just big enough to make it under my rock.

The blog is still holding pretty steady around 20-25 followers, so clearly my launch into infamy has yet to occur.  It’s for the best though…. I mean the littles are little, so infamy can wait…. for now ;).

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