4 Things That I Can Do Now That I Am Not Curating My Life

Some big news in my life if that I am taking an extended break from Instagram and Facebook. It might be a forever choice, we will see. The good news is I feel great! I decided to do this on Sunday and hid my profiles on Monday and ever since then, I have felt fantastic!

Here are 4 things I have appreciated since making this decision:

1. I can stop worrying if my children’s masks are pulled up over their noses in pictures.  This is something I think about. I know people love seeing pictures of my children but am under the impression, maybe incorrectly, that it rubs people the wrong way if they are wearing their masks incorrectly.   In regards to this, I try to only post pictures of them doing activities where they are wearing their masks correctly. Truth be told, when we are out and about, I am constantly helping them re-adjust their masks over their noses. Their masks are almost always coming down off of their noses because they have large faces for some kids sized-masks but faces too small for grownup masks.  Also as I said before, they are three and five; they aren’t great with masks.  Henry usually ends up sucking or drooling on it and it is wet within an hour and then he really doesn’t want to wear it. Now I really only need to worry about answering my conscience when thinking about my children’s mask wearing.
2. I can live in the present more easily instead of considering whether a moment is something that would make good social media content. There are times when I am thinking more about how something appears or could spinned instead of focusing on the moment. My relationships with my children seem go better when I lean into the moment.
3. I can spend time in the evenings writing in a notebook instead of logged in on social media checking out what other people are doing.  Last night I wrote for 30 minutes in a notebook with a pen and it wasn’t this list, it was totally different stuff that may or may not get published here.  It felt great. Writing is something that I have been craving, but I have been getting caught up in the technology of it all.  My computer always needs updating. I use my furloughed job’s Microsoft 365 account and soon I won’t be able to login with the login that I had been using, I need to configure some OneTouch account or something. It sounds like it is going to take some time to configure this account so I might just abandon using Microsoft 365. But a pen and notebook, I don’t have to update or configure or adjust. My pen and paper are simple and they don’t hurt my brain.
4. I like that by quitting social media I will not have to  remember to post to a particular hashtag when I support a cause or place when I post pictures.  For example, many places that we visit have a sign that says “use our hashtag when you post pictures of our event or visit our establishment”. I always feel a certain amount of responsibility for doing that.  Sometimes I take a picture of the sign so I remember to use their hashtag.  I am a librarian by training and maybe vocation so  I take my hash tagging seriously because to me it seems like a good way to organize or retrieve information when searching on Instagram.  But now, I like not having to think about being responsible for something by supporting causes on social media.  As a person who has mostly worked for non-profit organizations,  I myself, have asked people again and again to support the causes that I believe in on social media.  So thank you for supporting me in the past.  These are small asks, I reasoned in the past, but all these small asks add up.  These requests for support on social media take up small amounts of time that can add up for real time when taken together.

I will miss my social media friends and people who I do not see often, but remember that we can text each other or direct message each other on Facebook messenger.

You can subscribe to this blog. I do appreciate your support and this blog makes an entertaining read when you have a few minutes to yourself.

If you do have a blog, I can read and subscribe to your blog, so that I can keep up to date with your doings or interests.

I still answer email and talk on the phone. I also am still a breathing living person who talks and walks. We can still spend time together in person. Me quitting Facebook and Instagram doesn’t have to be the end of our relationship. 

So I hope you are doing well and I have faith that we will keep and touch and my decision to quit social media isn’t the end of our relationship.

Cheers,

Katie