Lessons Learned From Disconnecting

When I decided to disconnect for my week-long vacation part of me thought I might go through withdraw symptoms and another part of me thought it would be easy. It was a little bit of both with a healthy dose of lessons learned from my disconnect.

1. On the first day I had to physically stop myself multiple times from clicking on the Facebook app to get my "News". I wondered what was going on in some of my friends who frequently post through out the day. Was Kristy having any pregnancy symptoms? Did Tony post another picture of a gigantic pizza made at his shop? Did Johnny "like" or comment on a status update? These are all people I don't know personally but have come to rely on hearing from on a daily basis.

2. I discovered Facebook was the most missed app... but only for the first day.

3. After I got through day 1- I realized I could do this and I actually had so much more time on my hands! Without the need to keep up with comings and goings, posting a witty link or blogging about an interesting topic- I had A LOT OF TIME.

4. With so much extra time on my hands I went about addressing some much ignored projects around the house. This made my husband very excited (NOT). Let's just say... one of the projects is painting the brick on my house.

5. I even started attacking the garage which had become a place where we put items we didn't know what to do with.

6. I only heard from a couple friends. Have we become a world addicted to social media?

7. My husband would say yes... after all he admitted that when he was checking his Facebook during a nice dinner out without the kids! I actually got pretty upset about that... and even more when he checked it again a little while later.

8. I missed sharing with you the fun at the NKOTB concert, didn't hear about a fun activity being planned for my kids (all spread through Facebook) and I relied on friends to post pictures of events like the Firefly 5k- but toward the end of the week I didn't feel the need to pull out my camera to document that wonderful meal- I just ate it.

I woke up Sunday, got my coffee and enjoyed some conversation with the kids and spent several hours piddling around the house before checking back in. It surprised me how much I no longer "needed" social media. I think there is room for it- for sure, after all I am a News Anchor. It's my job to stay informed and communicate with people- but I no longer need to check in every waking moment for fear of missing something.

It surprised me how much the people around me had their faces in their phones checking in on others- while having a conversation with me. Was I not enough entertainment? Did I do that to them when I was "connected"? Either way- I hope to be more intentional when using it. I do love it. It's fun and I enjoy sharing with you and learning about you- I just promise to be more present when we are face to face. It was probably the greatest lesson I learned.