and I failed.
I wrote a post explaining my reasoning. I had big plans to make better use of my time. I was going to work more, and finish writing my story, and not feel so frazzled and burned out when in reality I spent way too much time on social media.
That post got delayed and delayed and delayed until now, when I can finally post it, and I don't really feel like being on a break anymore. Initially it was easy to take a break. I was in a mini slump anyway. But then I started wanting to write, and having ideas I really liked for posts and finally I cracked and started writing my posts without sharing them. Since that really doesn't save me any time or help my productivity, I might as well stop pretending and go back to what I was doing. With one exception.
I'm enjoying being away from social media. I'm still on Facebook, but no more Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest. No more phone games. I'm desperately trying to break my Reddit habit. Ideally, I'll get to the point where my phone is a tool and not a huge time-suck. It's already gotten way better. I can spend maybe 15 minutes on Facebook before getting bored and moving on to something else. But when I had everything, I'd spend hours flipping back and forth between the different social channels.
Somehow, I haven't magically transformed into a hyper-productive #GIRLBOSS, but you know what I have done? I've read a lot. And I get a lot more out of that than the 2 or 3 hours spent on Twitter. I feel relaxed and like I had leisure time, whereas the instant gratification of the phone somehow makes me want to keep doing it, but I don't feel like I enjoyed myself when I finally quit.
I still catch myself reaching for my phone sometimes, out of habit, but I'm a lot more likely to just put it down again now that there's no fun things to do on there. I have no desire to get it out at red lights anymore, which was always a dangerous compulsion that worried me about myself.
I also really like being in the moment. I like being out with people and not needing to capture a picture for my blog or Instagram or Snapchat, and not spending 20 minutes adjusting filters or responding to comments instead of talking to the people I'm with. I like being present and I'm definitely happier when I'm not multi-tasking. I listened to a TED talk a while ago that said that being able to think about something other than what we're doing is a superpower that only humans have. But most of the time when we're doing it, we're actually less happy than when we're not.
So I guess that's where I want to go with this. I still hope that not spending time on social media will open up extra hours for productive work. But even if I just read more, I think I'll be happier. And if I ever need to get caught up on social issues and current events, I can turn them back on again.
I wrote a post explaining my reasoning. I had big plans to make better use of my time. I was going to work more, and finish writing my story, and not feel so frazzled and burned out when in reality I spent way too much time on social media.
That post got delayed and delayed and delayed until now, when I can finally post it, and I don't really feel like being on a break anymore. Initially it was easy to take a break. I was in a mini slump anyway. But then I started wanting to write, and having ideas I really liked for posts and finally I cracked and started writing my posts without sharing them. Since that really doesn't save me any time or help my productivity, I might as well stop pretending and go back to what I was doing. With one exception.
I'm enjoying being away from social media. I'm still on Facebook, but no more Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest. No more phone games. I'm desperately trying to break my Reddit habit. Ideally, I'll get to the point where my phone is a tool and not a huge time-suck. It's already gotten way better. I can spend maybe 15 minutes on Facebook before getting bored and moving on to something else. But when I had everything, I'd spend hours flipping back and forth between the different social channels.
Somehow, I haven't magically transformed into a hyper-productive #GIRLBOSS, but you know what I have done? I've read a lot. And I get a lot more out of that than the 2 or 3 hours spent on Twitter. I feel relaxed and like I had leisure time, whereas the instant gratification of the phone somehow makes me want to keep doing it, but I don't feel like I enjoyed myself when I finally quit.
I still catch myself reaching for my phone sometimes, out of habit, but I'm a lot more likely to just put it down again now that there's no fun things to do on there. I have no desire to get it out at red lights anymore, which was always a dangerous compulsion that worried me about myself.
I also really like being in the moment. I like being out with people and not needing to capture a picture for my blog or Instagram or Snapchat, and not spending 20 minutes adjusting filters or responding to comments instead of talking to the people I'm with. I like being present and I'm definitely happier when I'm not multi-tasking. I listened to a TED talk a while ago that said that being able to think about something other than what we're doing is a superpower that only humans have. But most of the time when we're doing it, we're actually less happy than when we're not.
So I guess that's where I want to go with this. I still hope that not spending time on social media will open up extra hours for productive work. But even if I just read more, I think I'll be happier. And if I ever need to get caught up on social issues and current events, I can turn them back on again.
Have you ever taken a break from social media? If you've ever tried to write a book, do you find it difficult to do while also blogging?
