I Gave Up; First Reflections on my Short Social Media Break
So here we are in July after an 18-day social media break and I can tell you I am in nooooo hurry to get back into that.
To get back into the #scrollhole
And so we continue…
Mark Schaffer
That’s right I had fallen into a very unhealthy scroll hole in the past year, with all the hallmarks of addictive behaviour, and thank goodness because once you identify the addiction you can set to work on addressing the addiction.
You see discipline alone would not prevent me from checking and checking and checking again the same things (If you’re wondering if that happened anyway in other areas of the iPhone - I shall be revealing little by little throughout July).
Now don’t get me wrong I absolutely LOVE the convenience of all the channels of communication that we have come to take for granted over the past ten years.
But it was the mindlessness and listlessness and the nonsense of it that had begun to take root.
And I made this note just prior to surrendering all my passwords to my assistant and insisting that she did not hand them over until July 1st.
Then I realised
I’m not having fun anymore
It’s not fun
Instagram etc
After a year of, I might venture to inquire, intense travel, study, work, self-reflection and inner work in addition to some challenging work situations I realised I had a LOT OF NOISE coming in through the social media channels and in order to process and integrate all the things I’ve been learning and doing, some quiet time would be necessary.
I would need to get out of the scroll hole.
Endless scrolling of the same things and commenting and engaging in ways that were’t really useful to me.
Like why am I having lengthy Social Media conversations with people I don’t know that well and having occasional conversations with my really good mates?
In the past 3 weeks I have connected on a really deep level with my nearest and dearest. Even some impromptu phone calls where we have actual chats.
Also really really honest chats with the people who mean the most. An integrity cleanse if you like.
When you are not on Social Media there are three main things that happen:
You are not speaking to an audience, so your voice is more sincere.
You do not care what your followers think because they are not seeing what you are doing.
You are not recording everything you are doing all the time, meaning you are more fully present with the actual people around you.
Which is what got me wondering.
I wonder what I will be doing without a witness.
Without Instagram witnessing me.
Without Facebook giving me instant feedback.
Without LinkedIn giving me a slew of new requests from older men usually of a military background friending me every time I post something on there (I’m hooked into some kind of algorithm clearly that has me down as a desperate middle aged single woman looking for love with man who’s image has been stolen from Facebook and delivered back in LinkedIn and to give away my details and bank account information or something).
So I gave up. I surrendered. And I got into it.
And I allowed myself to just be.
I got over the fears I had about getting off Social Media and got into the reality of what it was that was going to happen.
And a lot came out of it:
Day 1
Toes in sand legs in the waves
Perfection in a video - don’t give up
Podcast
Early night
Amazing night’s sleep
Have ideas
Write them down
Listen to the sea
Did not once log into social media (couldn’t) but had lined up a number of beautifully designed posts to go out every day and I absolutely loved looking at the colours. In fact all beauty seems amplified without the noise of Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter Tweet tweeting. I’ve been listening to actual birds.
Many things have emerged including my wish to take another month off Social Media and see what happens.
I’ll be giving regular updates about this and more in the next month.
They say it takes 21 days for an old habit to break and a new one to form.
So I’m giving myself a peaceful chance to break and reform my #scrollhole habits and let other life occurrences come together.
I am on a complete social media break until the end of July. Keep in touch though through email, Whatsapp and Line. Also sign up for Sarah Furuya Coaching communications here.
I surrender Priscilla du Preez