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| What would happen if you quit social media? |
I've been toying with the idea of quitting social media all together. I've had many discussions with friends and family about the good, the bad, and the ugly, why to stay and why to go. Why am I even considering such a drastic move? Here are my reasons:
- Other than my business. I don't get much out of social media. Okay, I do enjoy pinning tiny house ideas to Pinterest. You got me!
- I find myself comparing and judging not only others, but myself as well. That's not cool in my book and not aligned with my values.
- It feels like an addiction or at least a cage. How many times do you check Facebook? See what I mean!?
- I'm trying to be more mindful of everything in my life, including my time. Social media is a HUGE time suck.
In a recent study by the Happiness Research Institute, a sample of 1,095 regular Facebook users in Denmark were divided into two groups. One group was asked to quit completely for one week. The other group was to continue with their daily social media routine as normal. After a week, the people who hadn't been on Facebook said they were more satisfied with their lives and 88% said they were "Happy," compared to 81% of the second group.
In the end, the people who quit Facebook felt their lives were richer and with fewer difficulties. The authors of the study said, "Instead of focusing on what we actually need, we have an unfortunate tendency to focus on what other people have." I find this to be true for me. What about you?
My concerns about quitting:
- My business won't have a place for my tribe to connect with me or each others. Surely there is a solution for this, but I haven't found it...yet!
- How will new people find my coaching services and the Wise Woman Society? Again, I'm sure there is a solution, perhaps even this blog. That's what we used to do.
- Keeping up with friends and family. Maybe I should just pick up the phone?
- I would no longer be relevant. (Yes, that's a fear showing it's ugly mug.)
What I expect to gain if I quit social media:
- Time. On average, I spend about an hour or two on social media a day. 5 minutes here and 5 minutes there, adds up!
- More self-confidence. Trusting my intuition that I'm on the right path instead of looking to others for the answers. That's a win in my book.
- A general feeling of satisfaction with my life.
- Happiness and peace of mind. Will life feel simpler? There's only one way to find out.
- Being really social...like face-to-face kind of social. What a novel concept?!
- Getting rid of Overwhelm. I'm bombarded with ads, classes, and silly news. Is all of this really important? Does it help me reach my dreams? When I look at it objectively, not really.
- Money savings. Trying to keep up with the Jones' goes against my values. I'm happy for what other people have, but I don't necessarily need it in my life. Maybe without social media, I'll be able to hear the still small voice of my soul saying..."I have something to say." I think we're all on information overload and it hits us in our money belts!
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What are your thoughts on Social Media? Will you stay or will you go. And why?
I have to admit that I don't understand this idea of quitting social media to make life better. Here's a couple of reasons:
ReplyDelete1. If you compare yourself to others on FB, you can't tell me that you don't compare yourself to people in your real life too. So, quitting social media is not really dealing with the issue. What drives us to compare ourselves with others? What would it take to truly just own where we are, to be clear about our dreams, and then to keep moving toward that? If we accept ourselves as we are, where we are, and we can celebrate others being where they are... then we have no comparison problem. Getting out of social media doesn't change the tendency for comparison.
I also want to be clear that I'm not saying that you *shouldn't* leave social media, I'm just saying it's not a true answer to the issue. It may be necessary to leave social media to minimize the comparison in order to truly deal with it. I get that. I just get the sense that people think that social media is bad and makes you feel bad... it's not true... it's because they take personally what is on social media that they feel bad.
2. The time issue is similar. It's not inherently FB that is the time problem. It's our willingness to slip into mindless behavior. I'm also not thinking that some mindless hanging out on FB is inherently bad. We do it in front of the TV too... right? We do it playing computer games, playing solitaire, working on puzzles... hanging out and letting our minds relax isn't problematic. Doing it too much, or to the exclusion of truly restful and restorative things isn't going to work. But whose fault is that? FB? No.
3. FB feed management. I hear lots about how there are crappy people and terrible comments on people's FB feeds. This is about boundaries. What kinds of comments, behaviors, posts, statements are people allowed to throw into your space? There are controls to take care of this. Use them. I hear about terrible things on my FB feed, but they are generally wise and well thought out responses to things. I have a lovely FB feed that challenges my thought processes in fantastic growth ways. I'm not bragging... I'm saying it's possible.
4. I have to say I love social media, particularly FB. I have connected to people through FB that I never would have known in daily life. These people have contributed immensely to my sense of belonging, of honoring truth and justice, of showing me the possibilities of who I can be and the changes I can stand for in this world. I wouldn't trade this for anything. Before FB I thought I was alone in my world view, I felt like an outsider in my community, and as I was becoming more sure of the subtle realms of things surrounded by people who don't see or feel it... I even thought for awhile that I might be a little nuts. But I'm not. It turns out there are people who think like me all over the place, and now I am connected to them. What a relief!
I think FB is a tool. And I think it's easy to suggest that it's the tool that has the problem. Again, I'm not telling anyone that they shouldn't leave FB, or that it won't help them make changes if they do... but I am inviting people to think more deeply and honestly about what is really driving their discomfort with FB, and whether they see that in other parts of their lives.