Random thoughts from my first five days off social media

I feel pleasant today. That’s the most accurate way I can describe it. I’ve even caught myself unconsciously smiling a few times, not because of some deep inner thought or contentment. Just because I guess. 

Is it the lack of social media? I think it’s way too early to tell, to be honest. It could be a fluke, it could just be a nice Sunday. Is Mercury out of the oven? Maybe it’s that. 

I do think at least some of it is the lack of Facebook though. Specifically the lack of the constant micro hits of unexpected trauma. 

The news article about a family all dying on Christmas Day. The post from a friend commemorating the day their baby was born sleeping. With pictures. The constant stream of political posts from well meaning friends trying to get someone to pay attention to all the injustices (myself included). The animal abuse fundraisers. The nihilistic memes. Friends going through legitimately hard times and processing publicly. Shitty AI. Petty arguments. Neighborhood groups. *shiver*

Okay, so it’s not NOT the lack of Facebook. 

I will say that I haven’t missed it yet. For the most part deactivating my last social media account was sort of a nonevent. 

I’m still checking the news, actually I’ve added a few news sites to be sure I don’t miss something. But those live in a bookmarks tab in my browser. I can check in (when I’m emotionally prepared, not when I’m looking to zone out), read a few articles, and leave.

Also, I’ve learned the front page of the news sites doesn’t update nearly as fast as it feels like from social media. Checking those once or maybe twice a day seems to be quite enough. 

While I’m still looking at my phone more than I’d like, right now my attention has been transferred to end of year planning and finishing a 90 day transaction review of my finances. Hopefully my screen time continues to drop as I wrap that up and find more reasons to put my phone down. 

And now I’m going to practice by putting my phone down and spending the rest of this potentially lovely Sunday afternoon not getting a neck ache. ✌️