Since I was a child, I was always taught that I should give up something for lent, which I do to this day, and I am not alone in this philosophy. Most people Ive talked to about it say they have given up one of their favorite things such as certain type of Soda Pop, a type of candy or candy all together. Some others have instead pledged to do something positive for the season. For example, spending more time with family, a young sister being nicer to their brother, etc.
So I asked myself, what should I give up for this Lenten Season this year? I tossed a few ideas around, but then I came back to what I gave up last year, which was my Facebook Mobile ap on my phone. I understand some of you may be laughing right now, some of you may be rolling your eyes or maybe you get it. Yes it sounds silly. However, I found that I was spending an, well lets call it, unhealthy amount of time on FB Mobile. The result was less quality time spent with my family and less day-to-day productivity on my farm. So I decided to give up Facebook Mobile again this year for lent.
Now before you say, boy that’s easy, I will honestly say it’s not! Picture yourself staying in touch with your friends throughout the day every day, then all at once, nothing. Only phone calls, no FB texts, no profile updates, no viral video recommendations from that kid you went to grade school with who you don’t really know at all and so on. We all know how Facebook can suck you in, and its hard to ignore.
As of today, its been about 3 weeks since I’ve last been on FB Mobile. At first I was concerned I would be missing out on all the stuff going on on FB every day. I thought Id miss out on the news and pictures my friends post. What I found was that I was actually missing out on more when I was on the Ap as much as I was. I missed out on family, on work, …..on everything. Now I’m not saying FB or other social media is bad, in fact it has its place, but in moderation.
Going into the week before Easter, I plan on taking another huge step. For that week, I have decided to delete my Twitter, Google+ and FB aps from my phone and will not be on their websites unless totally and absolutely necessary. I call it:
The Facebook and Other Social Media DETOX Project.
For those 7 days. I will fall off the social media grid in every capacity except for this blog. Thats right, No FB, No YouTube, No Tweets, No Words with Friends, No StumbleUpon, No…well you get the idea. For those 7 days my smart phone will basically be used as regular phone, with only Phone Calls, Text messages and a few (non online) games in use. After being an active part of social media for years now, this wont be an easy thing to accomplish.
I encourage you to join me in this Project and post your thoughts in the comments below.
It all Starts this coming Monday and ends on Easter Sunday.
Feel free to check back to this blog often as I will periodically post how things are going and post a summary after Easter is over.
Thank you for reading and God Bless!
As a disclaimer: I must say I dont believe Social Media is bad in any way, in fact it has become an awesome force in changing the world of communications, however, I believe sometimes, we need to step away from it to see what is physically around us.
The Farmer's Story 