My 30 days away from social media wraps up on Sunday.  As I mentioned in a previous blog, it’s been a great experiment. Someone asked me the other day what I will do when my 30 days is up and the truth is I don’t yet know. But I thought I’d better figure it out.

I do know what I don’t want and that can be a clarifying way to start. So I wrote down all the things I don’t want.

I don’t want: 
to let social media affect my mood
to let social media posts be the trigger to feeling bad (that’s something for me to work on but in the meantime no need to jump in the tiger’s mouth)
to absorb other people’s negativity and fears
to use scrolling around on social media as a creative way to avoid things that are uncomfortable (like difficult feelings)

I do want:
to be able to connect with my friends and family, especially those that live far away as I love to see how things are going in their life.
to follow along with my friends’ adventures and fun activities.
to feel connected to the rest of the world in the best way possible
to use social media instead of feeling manipulated by it (if you aren’t aware, there are lots of ways it does manipulate our brains)

What I have come up with so far is I am going to set a timer on it. And I am only going to “allow” myself to be on social media a certain time of the day. Part of that decision comes from things I have noticed about my routines. I tend to waste more time in the morning and the evening, when there are way more important things I want to be doing. I am going to give it 15 minutes around 11 am each day. I won’t set a reminder to do it (if I forget that’s great) but I will set a timer when I start and commit to when the 15 minutes is done, so am I.

I imagine this will be an exploration and I do plan to revisit it at the end of the first week and see what happens. If I find that it’s not helping further my day-to-day experience, then I will make changes.

What have you noticed about your social media habits? Have you been paying attention to how you feel before, after and during your time online?

Sunshine & Sarcasm,
Lowi & G