My Little Social Media Hiatus

Okay so my 40-day social media fast turned into a two-week social media fast, which I still think is pretty good. Forty days is waaaaaay longer than I thought and in my personal opinion perhaps should be reserved for fasts by more disciplined people...like Jesus. (I am the monkey emoji covering my face in shame) Here are some things I learned/observed:

 1) I am not addicted to social media. One thing that scared me in the past when I contemplated coming back on to the social media scene was becoming addicted to it. During the last two weeks it  was pretty refreshing to be out of the loop for a little bit. I would say that I spent a similar amount of time on my phone just doing different things. I figure I maintain a good balance, because I didn't have a sudden breakthrough realization that I waste so much time on social media or anything. I think my routine is roughly the same with or without.

 2) It kind of surprised me that a good deal of my social interaction is via social media, and honestly I'm not sure I see that as a bad thing. Even though I see and talk to my closest friends on a regular basis it's nothing compared to being involved in their day to day experiences as well as the other people I follow. I enjoy getting those sneak peeks into everyone's days - it makes me feel more connected to my far away besties and helps me become more acquainted with newer friends. I might have previously found this to seem unhealthy as if I were spending time developing/maintaining "fake" relationships or whatever, but the friends I choose to follow on Insta are pretty much just real people who post their real lives. Just an interesting observation, because I have definitely viewed social media as a negative in the past for whatever reason. I think it has more positives than I  realized.  

   >>> Side note: This is really interesting to me. I have heard many people reference social media as an arena where people post their fake, perfect lives; however, I view Instagram for example as a place to share the best parts of my day with an obvious understanding that that's what I'm posting, the best parts. Do you view a "curated" feed as a false advertisement of someone's true life, or as a place for good memories like our parents' photo albums? Do you find yourself comparing your worst to others' best, or do you find yourself enjoying the happy break from negative things for a  minute? I naturally tend to lean toward the second, so I'm genuinely curious to know if I'm alone in my view on this subject! <<<

 3) I take waaaaay fewer pictures when not using social media. On a positive note, I feel like I was maybe a bit more "all there" in the moment playing with Walker or spending time with Tom, but the downside is that my sleep deprived self is not going to remember a lot of those moments without the pictures I normally have to refer back to. I don't know why I am not naturally inclined to take pictures, but I literally don't think of it until after the moment has passed (notice I had literally not one picture to share on here from the last two weeks lol). Wanting to be able to share my special moments with my friends and family motivates me to document more, and as long as it doesn't become obsessive or too much I think I will appreciate having snapped those pictures in the long run.

Well there you have it. Lessons learned from a social media break. I'm happy to be back.

XOXO

Maxie