No social media for Lent

[catherine]

Just dropping in briefly to let everyone know that I'm giving up social media for Lent. I just find that my time here and on Facebook and on a couple of other boards is way too time-consuming--and hitting the bookmarks for the sites has become like a twitch when I'm trying to get work done. I'm trying to use the time for other things for a while, in particular, spending more time in silence/meditation in general, and exploring silence as a theme in my blog.

See you in the spring, friends!

[CathyA]

See you then catherine!

[Float On]

I did that a few years ago and it was wonderful.

[catherine]

I'm back!

I have to say it was really harder than I thought to lose the urge to escape to my social media sites--in this case, you guys and Facebook mainly, and then twitter and a couple of other discussion boards I go to from time to time. When I complained to DH about how automatic my fingers just got me to these places, especially when I was working on a report, he said it's the same kind of distraction that cigarette smoking has--you pause, light up, think, and go back to your work. In my case, I've always paused, typed Facebook.com or simplelivingnetwork.com, read a little, typed a little, and then went back to my work. Having to stay on task was a good exercise for me.

But honestly, I hated the enforced seclusion from my online friends. With regard to Facebook, I missed a lot of chances for birthday wishes, a friend's vying for a seat on City Council, a cousin's physical therapy tales following a bad car crash, the chance to "share" an awesome permaculture movie, etc. etc. As for you guys, I was dying to see what was going on here. I have to admit that I cheated once or twice and scanned the topics and resisted an urge to read on.

However, I was more productive. So now I have to re-evaluate how/when I engage in social media activities and not have it just overtake the time I really want to devote to other things. It's easy to run away through social media.

It's also easy to bolster your identification with other people, and that's the other thing I hoped to dissolve a little. On Facebook, you tend to "like" things that you WANT to identify with--for instance, I've "liked" Permaculture Podcast, Spiritual Ecology, Occupy Monsanto, Bernie Sanders, etc.. So I wind up getting my information from a very narrow focus. My "liking" posts from them reinforces my affiliation with them, and I wonder if I start to lose a bit of my whole self? I'm not JUST an environmentalist or a liberal, or what have you. I'm a whole person and the the persona that goes on my Facebook page is a very small sliver of that, but that small part tends to get inflated when you spend too much time on that one sliver. I wanted to step back and get away from the 24/7 barrage of messages from this narrow worldview.

At least as far as you guys go, I get simple living, but I also get to hear all sides of the coin. As we've said before, our diversity is a strong point of this group.

Anyhow, wassup, everybody? I'm glad to be back!

[Float On]

Welcome back!

[ApatheticNoMore]

So did you spend the time in silence and meditation or productivity? I did try to meditate for 1/2 hour a day during the time that coincidentally coincided for the most part with that period. Mostly because I nearly had a breakdown about career related things prior to that (interviews, trying to advance etc.) - career related things, of all things, sigh

Internet time easily bleeds into other things, but there's also time on the internet that I have found no substitution for, and I'm not substituting for anything else I should be doing. Focused concentration, hmm after 50 minutes or so of banging my head against the wall with some difficult work problem, I've approached every which way, my brain is fried. Need break. If I set out to take no breaks, I start choosing only easy to work on problems. (work is seldom at some ideal "flow" level of difficulty, nope don't have some ideal job, to put it mildly - it's usually either completely mindless (most often) or near or completely insolvable).

Facebook I felt clean walking away from just because I got tired of how sleazy and getting sleazier by the day that corporation was. It was just whew, I'm free of it, I can wash my hands!

As for identification with others, some influence is a given, at the extreme point of view identity is entirely socially created. I don't know that I hold that extreme a view . I guess the problem is I suppose a dishonest identification, where you say you are all gung ho for something, when you really are of mixed thoughts and feelings. Only cure there is honest communication, with others where appropriate, with self at least. But I also sometimes CHOOSE to side with something even if it's not all totally black and white, because I think the consequences of not doing so justify such a stance.

I am aware that involvement in some things sometimes pushes me in an undesirable direction, yes I've thought so about here sometimes (and I've given up some music radio stations for that reason), but then it's just a case of if the positives seem to outweigh it I guess.

[pinkytoe]

I was wondering where you went to! The cigarette analogy is interesting; as an ex-smoker I can relate to that. I was very busy one day last week and didn't spend any time on the internet. I was surprised at the end of the day that I felt more focused than usual and less anxious. I still don't get the appeal of FB other than seeing what people are up to on occasion. To me, most of it is fluff and marketing.

[iris lily]

OP, glad to see you back!

While you were gone, I retired from paid work. So that's the big news with me.

[Tussiemussies]

Glad to see you back Catherine, you have such interesting things to share. Btw, I picked up a Kindle book by Charles Filmore, called "The Fourty Days of Lent" with a deep metaphysical New Thought idea for each day. There are previous chapters that are wonderful. Just an fyi..glad you are pondering, the cigarette analogy is great...

[rosarugosa]

Welcome back Catherine. Your kind-spirited and well-reasoned posts add so much to the Forums!