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Social Media Sabbatical

July 18, 2011 by Mary

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for details.

For the past 7 years of my life I’ve updated one website or another with stauses. (Yep, I’ve been on Facebook way too long… back when it was college students only.)

Seven years of random thoughts and observations and useless info documenting my days. I’ve updating tens of thousands times, if not hundreds of thousands.

I wonder how much time of my life those statuses account for. I wonder how much of my time I’ve wasted not only thinking up those statuses but typing them out, replying to responses, and reading other statuses.

Way too much time, that’s how much.

I recently decided to take a break from social media unless it is for my job or clients. I’m eliminating personal use for a while to see what it feels like to go back to living a normal life where I don’t update statuses constantly. I want to see what it’s like to do amazing things and think amazing things without worrying about sharing those thoughts with my closest thousand friends/fans/followers.

I want to get my time back. I want to save myself from myself – the girl who wastes too much time getting sucked into social media when I’m bored or trying to procrastinate. I want to eliminate the insecurity and anxiety that social media sometimes causes me.

I wonder how much more I’ll be able to get done without social media. I wonder how strong the urge will be to share these statuses that I’m used to sharing. Seven years is a long time to be so involved with social media. I sometimes even think in status form or at least plan my future statuses as things are happening in real time. I wonder how long it will take to eliminate that from my mind.

I honestly don’t know how this will go nor do I know how long it will last or when it will end. It’s an indefinite sabbatical for now and I’m planning to try it out for a month at least. I’ll still be blogging so I’m not leaving, I’m just not promoting and I’m not following social media.

Last night I was feeling weird and scared without access to social media. I was missing the connections and knowing what’s going on in the world. I was missing that nightly habit of reading through everyone’se statuses before going to bed. So I already gave in to Facebook the first day just because I felt so alone. The fact that it happened makes me even more convinced that I need to take a break from social media and reset myself.

If you need me or want to chat I’ll be around in the comments on my blogs or via e-mail. :)

Filed Under: Blogging Life, Thoughts


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Comments

  1. M says

    July 18, 2011 at 9:23 am

    Best wishes Mary!
    I think that is an awesome goal!

    As I mentioned,I hope to try a break from my blog reading in
    August,but I think I am so addicted I don’t know if I can!
    I am not on twiiier or FB, but I can imagine for many people
    they may feel at a loss without it too! (so crazy to think about -I
    am the generation that grew up without these things in my
    20’s ,life is so diff now!)

    I am not sure social media ois always for the better in our lives.
    so kudos for you to even attempt to try this.I really hope it’s
    possible !

    We can DO this…..(can’t we?) Yikes!!

    • Mary says

      July 18, 2011 at 10:14 am

      I didn’t have these things until I started college but I got totally addicted then and since I’ve moved so much it’s been a crutch to keep in touch with people that way.

      We can. ;)

  2. Jen, a priorfatgirl says

    July 18, 2011 at 9:26 am

    I think it is a great idea, Mary! Just like with our eating or workouts, it is good to take a break or at least, mix things up a bit.

    For however long you break for, I hope it is a good mental regrouping :)

  3. Donna D says

    July 18, 2011 at 9:30 am

    I started taking a break one day a week.

    On one of my recent posts I calculated that I have spent 3% of my total time JUST TWEETING over the past 2 and a half years. That doesn’t include reading tweets, or blogs, or statuses. That is just the act of typing. Wow.

    I have found it to be centering, recharging, and surprisingly it was easier to do after the first day. Good luck with it!

    • Mary says

      July 18, 2011 at 10:15 am

      Wow. Yeah. That makes me really not want to add up or try to guess my time. It would just be depressing. I think taking a break will be good. I’m feeling better the second day, but the first proved what an addiction it is for me!

  4. Carina says

    July 18, 2011 at 9:42 am

    I gave up facebook for Lent one year and I really missed it. I don’t update my status often, maybe once a month or so, but I also spend lots of time reading and commenting to others. I even sometimes get an update on a case from someone at work and have had my first thought be “I wish I could “like” this.” Good luck with your sabbatical!!

  5. Lisa says

    July 18, 2011 at 10:34 am

    I have tried sooo many times to cut back on FB. So far, I have failed.. lol

  6. The Mrs @ Success Along the Weigh says

    July 18, 2011 at 11:24 am

    Good luck! It can be addicting at times. Then I realize most of the things people on my account say are either whining about something or checking in to places I have no desire to know they are. What’s next, “I’m in the bathroom!” I think in an effort to all become “more connected” with social media, we’ve actually become more disconnected to the people we should be closest to. Kinda sad.

    Enjoy that extra time!

  7. Chris says

    July 18, 2011 at 1:31 pm

    I did the same thing a few years ago and it’s been amazing.

    I was completely immersed in the SM world. It’s my job, but my entire personal life revolved around social networks as well. I was moderating 5 forums for personal hobbies and interests, blogged for 10 different sites along with my own personal blog. Tweeted constantly. Oh and during my work day I was maintaining various social channels for my company.. There wasn’t a time when I wasn’t connected.

    I came home from work one day, walked right past my wife and son(1 at the time) and deleted Facebook account with 2k+ friends, emailed a handful of forum owners and vanished.. I left my blog up but “lost the key”.

    I started training more, spent more time with my family and have seriously never felt better about a decision in my life..

    Good luck!

    • Mary says

      July 18, 2011 at 9:01 pm

      That’s awesome Chris. I’m hoping to find a similar outcome. :)

  8. Christine says

    July 18, 2011 at 3:10 pm

    I’ll be interested to hear how you react! I left FB almost two years ago and I am only now starting to miss it (my sister recently had a baby and I’m the only family member not seeing nephew photos right now). Like you, I found myself way too conscious about my online identity on a minute-to-minute. I started worrying about wearing the same outfit too often because it might appear in too many pictures! It also fed into making judgements about others and spending time observing lives and thinking about people and things that were not productive to my health or wellbeing. I started to miss my privacy, I started to resent the awkward social connections it creates and I started to notice that there are plenty of people I find lovely in person but am not a fan of in the world of amplified self-projection that is FB.

    I actually have a friend that did her Masters thesis as a study of the online presentation of self, with FB as the chosen medium. It was very eye-opening since she was one of her own research subjects!

    • Mary says

      July 18, 2011 at 9:04 pm

      That sounds like a really interesting Masters thesis!

      So far I’m just going through the withdrawal stuff. I am/was seriously addicted. But I’ve already noticed I have a lot more time to get things done and I’m also way more productive at work. It’s pretty awesome and sad to know how much time I wasted on social media. I do however miss being able to ask questions to a lot of people at once. That’s one thing about social media that is really useful and I’m missing.

      • Christine says

        July 19, 2011 at 2:47 pm

        Yes–the utlity of reaching out to your network is important. That’s why I kept Twitter but got rid of FB. Good luck! It’s an adjustment but over time you’ll probably learn more and more about yourself. It changed me as a person.

  9. Ramona says

    July 18, 2011 at 4:24 pm

    I’ve always tried to keep my SM time short, since I’m already swamped with a lot of client work, plus running various sits from which half are forums and you can imagine how much you need to work to keep them active. I thing it’s a good idea you’re taking a small break, it can be pretty hard to keep your activity levels up all these years.

  10. adetunji says

    July 18, 2011 at 5:56 pm

    I enjoy reading blogs like this. I was actuall going to spy on weight loss blogs so that i can improve on mine too. Fortunately enough, i found your blog. Well, its never easy having to manage all this blogs and websites. You decision is cool.

  11. Jody - Fit at 53 says

    July 18, 2011 at 7:19 pm

    Honestly, I think this is a great idea & wish I could get myself to do it! ;-) Although I am looking for work & not a great multi tasker so if I find work, workouts, family & work will be first & most likely will not have much time for anything else…

    HUGS! Keep at that therapy!

  12. Kerri O says

    July 18, 2011 at 9:18 pm

    Go you. Sadly, if I ditch the social media I have no social life ;) I stay at home with my kids, I homeschool, I live in the middle of nowhere, it’s my window to the outside!!

    • Mary says

      July 19, 2011 at 9:10 am

      I totally understand that. And when I go back to NZ I’m obviously going to use it again to keep up with people. But for now? Break needed.

  13. Miz says

    July 19, 2011 at 5:05 am

    Im somewhat with kerri (sm made me feel far less isolate when my girl was little little) but also am really firm about the nights.
    Unless Im hired (which I wont do more than once a week) Im not at twitter parties or chates etc.

    Im confident I miss a lot.
    and Im confident I would miss so so so much HERE if I plugged in

  14. MrsFatass says

    July 19, 2011 at 6:48 am

    I have never had a problem taking breaks from social media. It a lot of ways, because of my anxiety, it is a lifeline that keeps me from being a hermit. But at the same time I’ve never had a problem with stepping away on the weekends or evenings or whatever. I suppose it’s the one thing I can actually use in moderation.

    Now, peanut butter on the other hand…

  15. Zoe says

    July 19, 2011 at 11:01 am

    Way to go, Mary! I studied abroad before and was there for 9 months. For about 4 of those months, I had no net access at all and found that, when I came home and did have steady net access, I couldn’t get back into it. Talk about going cold turkey!

    I love SM as a great way to stay in touch especially when there are time-zone issues among friends and families, but after that long, long break, I realized that I did not need to spend every single spare moment in front of the computer or on some form of SM in order to be happy. I was definitely more productive (and totally became a bookworm)! The funniest thing though, is when my friends ask me why I haven’t replied some urgent message on Facebook, and I ask them why they didn’t just call or text me. You know, because that’s what cell phones are for! =D

  16. merri says

    July 19, 2011 at 6:46 pm

    good luck mary! i’m always on fb & twitter, & email too, always checking my phone. since i’m not a very social person in real life, and very quiet, they let me be social in some way, and get to know people better. but i agree, it can take up a lot of time, so its not for everyone all of the time.

Trackbacks

  1. Tuesday Thoughts says:
    July 19, 2011 at 9:27 am

    […] for all the support on the social media sabbatical! I miss talking to lots of people already but I also have noticed I have way more time on my hands […]

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