No Social Media
Right before we moved into the camper, after selling almost everything we owned, I hopped off social media.
Baby number 2 was about 6 months old, baby number one was working on his third birthday, and I was tired. I could feel postpartum depression kicking in but thankfully this time around I knew the signs before I fell too deep into that “it’s puts the lotion on its skin” hole.
I found myself coping by endlessly scrolling through Facebook, until i would get bored and then hop on TikTok. Oh man. If social media was a drug, TikTok would be mine of choice. The constant need for something more, but I don’t need my brain to really be on, I can just watch a few seconds and find something new to entertain my darkening black hole…
But then, I saw a glimmer of light and decide to delete all my social media. And I mean DELETE!! (Except for Facebook because… well… I’m a millennial and if there is any event to be planned it has to be on Facebook). But everything else was completely wiped out. TikTok, Snapchat, Pinterest, all of them!
Then I took Facebook off my phone. If I really wanted or needed to get on there, I would have to pull out my laptop, connect to Wi-Fi, open the browser, type in Facebook.com, log in to my profile (if I could remember the password), and finally I could look at whatever I was wanting to look at. But, I have 2 small children. By the time my brain was powered up enough to get to the password step, I’d have forgotten what I was on there for, if I wasn’t pulled away by then anyway.
That was in January of 2023. Today is June 16, 2023. That’s over 160 days; more than 6 months. It doesn’t feel like a very long time but it feels like an eternity since I mindlessly opened the infamous “F” app and scrolled for no reason at all. And I feel free! Less stressed, able to occupy my boredom through ways that fill me up instead of deplete me.
Now, the only time I get on Facebook, on my computer, is to post a blog. And even that isn’t something I’d like to do for an extended period of time. I’ll scroll a little bit, but I only make it to about the 3rd persons post and realize I have better things to do with my time.
The latest book I’m reading in Matthew Perry’s Friends, Lovers, and The Big Terrible Thing. I am a huge lover of “Friends” and only slightly knew about his problems throughout the show, but I had no idea the extent to which is pain, and “Pain” as he calls it, had damaged him. I’m a little over half way through so don’t spoil it for me if you’ve read it.
I am also writing almost 3 or 4 blogs a week, depending on how I’m feeling and what we are doing. Some get posted, some are just for my journal. But they all occupy a nice space of my attention.
And then of course, there’s my family and friends that I like to spend time with. I have found I like to hang around longer, talk a little more (and I’m a talker anyway!), share lunch or breakfast or dinner or just a snack.
Because I don’t see the post they made about what they had for dinner last night or the concert they went to, they get to tell me in person. They get to share a story with me and I am actively engagement in it with them. We can talk about deep subjects like our views on eating more natural, why kids through tantrums, and how to be a better human and friend.
Life can get in the way of staying connected and that’s why social media was invented. Even from thousands miles away, you can share your every loving thought about every loving thing to the entire world all at once, although you never get to have an actual conversation about these things with another human, face to face.
Social media it has turned into an echo chamber of one, a way to disassociate from your surroundings, a place for emotionally and intellectually lacking content. All the while, the platform is tracking what you watch and for how long so it can sell that information to people who only want you to buy their things.
I don’t want some algorithm telling me what I should or shouldn’t watch or see or know. Call me out on my pulpit here, but I just don’t want to be a marketable product for someone else.
So I read a lot. I read blog posts from things that interest me, even the ones I might disagree with. I read mostly non-fiction books. I even started picking up the newspaper to see what is going on locally.
I recently found a new app called Substack. It’s basically a social media platform but for writers. It was recommended to me by a friend as a way to make my blog profitable, you can subscribe, donate, and pay for additional things from each creator. I’m not quite there to that point yet, but I do enjoy reading what other people have to say and posting my blogs.
We’ll see how long I keep it. I feel pretty confident in myself to get rid of it too if I find I am endlessly scrolling again. But for now, I’ll enjoy the good reads and my story’s too.
If you want to check it out, here is my profile. You can subscribe to get notified when I post a new blog and see who else I follow and read.
You can also do that through my blog webpage here. By subscribing to my blog, I can send my latest story right to you instead of you waiting to see it come across your Facebook. My goal is to not have to post to Facebook one day.
There are other ways to support Loving Livv, too. One way is to share my stories. If you can’t wait to read the next one, you probably have a friend that feels the same. Another way is to leave a comment. I share my stories to connect and relate with people. Comment on a story that you can resonate with.
If you’re like me and want more control over the content you see and hear, follow along with me. If you like mindlessly scrolling through social media as a way to get away from the chaos that surrounds you, keep on. If you like both and just want to support those around you, please do!
Either way, I’m right here. I hope to see you around.
Love, Livv
