Does anyone want to join me for a social media detox?

by Lisa R. Howeler, posted in everyday musings

I need an intervention, folks.

I’m addicted to reading stupid and controversial things on Facebook and it’s making me physically ill.

I deleted my account last year and it was awesome but I added it back because I was in a homeschooling group that made all their announcements about upcoming events there. Now my son is connected to a friend through messenger kids and if I delete the account he’ll lose that connection.

So I want to do another detox. Even for a week but I would love to do a month.

Anyone want to join me? This would be for Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and if you need to log on for a group you run or to check on an emergency in your area, that doesn’t “count against” your break. I’m adding news sites to my detox as well since I think the national media orchestrates a lot of the drama of the world today.

Let me know if you’re interested. I’m going to start mine today and plan on a week, with the ultimate goal being a month. I have done this before and made a list of things I can do otherwise to distract myself. Should I fail, though, please don’t be too hard on me. It’s easy to want to be in the know but right now – I think I’d rather not know. You know?! 😂

Published by Lisa R. Howeler

Welcome to my blog! I am a wife and mom from Pennsylvania who also happens to write. I have been writing for 25 years, fourteen of those for smalltown newspapers in rural Pennsylvania and upstate New York. When I'm not writing about love, faith, and family life in a small town, I'm taking photographs and homeschooling my two children and also writing and publishing fiction. I blog a little bit about a lot of things on my blog Boondock Ramblings at www.lisahoweler.com.

29 thoughts on “Does anyone want to join me for a social media detox?”

  2. Pingback: Sunday Bookends: Finished books (finally), news detox, and what really matters – Boondock Ramblings

  4. We are cable, Facebook, insta, and twitter free…And actually we didn’t even have Internet (WiFi) at the house until my two public school kids had to start doing school at home, now once my girls finish hunter safety I will unhook Internet and we won’t have it again… Can’t wait till that happens!….Now I will be honest, my mom has a Facebook account and sometimes I will get on there to sell things but then I get distracted by different post from family and friends that she has on there so I’m gonna make it a point to use Facebook only when I have something to sell or to check in to see if it has sold… Thank you so much for the motivation!

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    1. I think you mentioned before not having Facebook except your moms and that is a truly awesome thing. Stay off it for sure because it is an unnecessary distraction from what is really important in life! I know!

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      1. I had it up until about six or seven years ago and the only reason I miss it is because of family that lives far away, but honestly even when one of my blog post is shared on moms Facebook none of that family really checks out anyway, most of them are posting and circulating worldly things anyway…sad but true

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        2. Ya I think so too, There’s times I’ve wanted to share certain situations or life lessons, I always write my post anonymously when I’ve learned through others but yet there’s people reading my blog that would still be able to figure out who I was referring to.

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  6. You are hitting a target, a nerve. Ugh. So hard. I know when I left Facebook 2 years ago, it was a good thing. And I truly do not miss it, nor the people who I thought were good friends, but were really friends online. We have moved away from our tribe and are pretty isolated where we are now (Alaska) so it has been hard to break away totally. But I was sucked into Instagram, Twitter, and Parler. LOL. I’m on WordPress when I post for my blog or read yours and others I follow. We unplugged cable two years ago, too, so no news here. We do have YouTube channels we watch for news and stream some others using WiFi. Like it or not, we live in a digital world. I like it not. LOL. I am now working on screen time. Trying to have it be the tiniest part of my day. I am alone much of the time and I do listen to podcasts while I do my housework. So yeah, this is something I struggle with and am working on daily. This was a good reminder. Sort of like the sugar detox I want to start – I know it is good for me, but dang, I love cooking with sugar. My husband lamented, “Does that mean we have to stop watching the British Baking Competition?” LOL. So with prayer and encouragement, yes, I will endeavor to unplug. At least more of my day!! Thank you for this.

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    1. I would love to hear how it goes for you. I failed a little bit this morning but I’m back on the wagon for the long haul now! Maybe I can actually accomplish some things in my house now!

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  10. I’d love to detox, but I post every Monday and Tuesday, new chapters of the novel I’m writing. I’m on Facebook every day, cos there’s war in my country and I like to be in the knowhow. But most days, it’s just a waste of time following the updates.

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    1. Try it! It’s really refreshing. I did several months last year and anxiety dropped, feeling annoyed or outraged all the time dropped. I didn’t have the media to tell me what to be mad about anymore. It was pretty cool.

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      1. I use social media for my business to market etc! I won’t deny it helps! However the price I pay? At times? Some days and night?! Is my anxiety. And like mentioned: the media telling me what I should be mad about!

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        1. It’s good to just take a break at times. If we can’t cut it out totally then maybe a week or month here or there there, if not a month then a week and if not a week, even three days just to declutter the mind a little. It really is too much information for our brains to handle sometimes. If a person is someone who can compartmentalize then they might can handle it a bit better, but I seem incapable of doing that. My brain needs time to “heal” for lack of a better word. 😉

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  12. Last weekend my daughter’s phone went to voicemail for 24 hours. So I drove to her apartment to check on her before 8 AM on Saturday morning. She was alive and well, just let her phone run completely down because being connected was too much.

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  13. I’ve had the opposite problem for so long. Social media drives me batty and I only use it once in a while, whenever I happen to remember it exists. I’ve been wanting to do more with it, so maybe I should do the complete opposite as you, but there really is too much drama out there these days and holes feel like really good places to nestle down into right now. Good luck with your detox!

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