I Feel Like I Need to Disconnect.

Social media has only been around for a few years.  I take that back......being able to communicate via chat rooms and bulletin boards and what not has been around for quite some time.  But the current popular social media sites like MySpace and Facebook haven't been around all that long.  MySpace started in 2003 and Facebook started in 2004.  There have been others (Friendster is/was one), but these two were the ones that really hit the mainstream and made it big.

Maybe I should take that back, too........MySpace isn't exactly popular anymore, is it?

Oh and of course now there's also Twitter, which took off in 2006.

There seems to be a color theme........

I joined MySpace first, back in 2005.  And I became a SLAVE to it.  I loved sharing pictures and videos, updating my status, searching for people and reconnecting with old friends, playing with my background and layout, filling out surveys, changing the song on my page and finding cool things to put on my page (that would now be referred to as "apps").  A coworker of mine down in Florida told me about Facebook, and so I created my Facebook page at some point after that.  I can't even remember when that happened - 2006 or 2007, I guess.  And at first I didn't like Facebook, because it SO WASN'T MYSPACE.  But eventually Facebook won out and my MySpace page became obsolete, sometime between 2007 and 2008.

And I do have a Twitter account that I started maybe 2 or 3 years ago, but I never really joined the craze of Twitter like the celebrities and pretty much everyone else.  Every blue moon I get on there and tweet something.....usually about how I haven't tweeted in 6 months.  But then I forget about it and don't sign on for another 6 months........

P.S.  People get MEAN via Twitter.  Sheesh.  They get that way on Facebook, too, but not like on Twitter.  Twitter is a mecca for meanness.  HERE'S WHY I THINK YOU SUCK AND HERE'S HOW I'M GOING TO PUBLICLY ACT LIKE A CHILD ABOUT IT......hashtag hashtag hashtag hashtag......good grief the hashtag craze is ridiculous and insane.  Some people hashtag the crap out of everything and I want to just be like, JUST CUT IT OUT ALREADY.  Or go ahead and hashtag, but pick one.  Not 40. #your5000hashtagsmakemeinsane

If you haven't seen the Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake Hashtag Video, check it out.  It's funny.  I posted it in a blog post because YouTube (social media strikes again!!) gave me that option.

Celebrities even end up on the NEWS for their tweets and hashtags.  If that's not ridiculous, then I don't know what is.

TMZ said that, ironically, Jimmy Kimmel's spoof about Kanye was over the fact that he acts like a child.  Oh and I'm sure Kim really appreciated the third tweet from the bottom in particular.

What was life like before social media???  It wasn't that long ago that it wasn't around, and yet I already don't remember what it was like not to have it at my fingertips.

So I've been feeling the need to disconnect lately.  I don't mean turn off all my electronics and move into the woods with nothing but a roll of toilet paper and a book of matches.  I just mean I need to stop feeling the need to check Facebook throughout the day all day every day.  I need to go on a diet from social media, basically.  From Facebook directly.  I don't have a MySpace or Twitter problem.

This is a real book.  I think it would be a good read!  Maybe it's at McKay's.....

I don't want to quit Facebook for good, because I use it for much more than just checking in on what my friends are up to (and look at their adorable baby pics).  I use it to network animals, whether they're lost, found or just in dire need of a home.  I also network stories of animal abuse, to try to get people to open their eyes and not be silent and at least contact someone (the cops, a shelter, a local rescue, etc) if they think/know abuse is happening somewhere near them.  And I don't want to stop doing my part of networking in that way, because networking animals REALLY saves a lot of lives that otherwise would never make it.

But I do think I need a break from social media, or at least teach myself how to check in once and then leave it alone.  Because as much "good" as social media can provide and accomplish, there's also an overload of drama and negativity and gossip and crap associated with it that I really could do without.

Social media is here to stay, and I know that.  And like I said, its networking capabilities have done a WORLD of good in so many ways.  But it's definitely an addiction, and devices like smart phones and iPads just feed right into it.  It's like how you used to drive an hour to buy your heroin......then your heroin became available right across town.....then it moved to just right down the street......then you were able to order it right from your computer......and now you can blink your eyes and have it appear right in your hand, because there's an app for it.  How convenient!

There are things I need to do on a regular, almost daily basis that require the internet.  I need to check my email.  I need to balance my checkbook.  I need to pay bills.  I need to blog (because writing/typing is therapeutic for me).  And I also need to work from my computer when I've been assigned a project.  I HAVE to have access to technology on a regular basis.  I CAN'T QUIT YOU, LAPTOP.

And I DO make an effort to focus on my son when he is awake.....I try really hard not to be browsing Facebook when he's interacting with me, though I do catch myself doing it during times when he is entertaining himself.  And Delano and I DO get out of the house and go outside.  We go for walks and swing at the park and play in the water fountains and run errands and do all sorts of things to get out of the house.  We're even members of both the Creative Discovery Museum and the Tennessee Aquarium so that we have fun indoor options for rainy days.  In fact, we leave the house just about every day of the week, even if all we do is go hang out at my mom's house for a few hours.  And on the few days we don't leave the house, we watch cartoons and Sesame Street and we hang out and we play with ALL the toys in the living room and ALL the toys in the bedroom and we definitely read ALL the books.  Parents know that you read ALL the books ALL the time. ALL. THE. BOOKS.

I'm not trying to sound like Mom of the Year, nor am I trying to brag about being involved with my child (or make anyone feel any less about what they do with their children).  Some moms ROCK SOCKS when it comes to arts and crafts activities, as if they were born with a Pinterest chip implanted into their brains.  I have YET to do anything artsy or crafty with my child, because he's currently satisfied playing with the same toys on a daily basis and I'M typically the one who gets stir-crazy and wants to leave the house for a change of scenery and/or conversation (I'm sure that will only come with time with Delano).  Plus that would mean I'd have to become crafty.  And other moms rock their socks off earning a paycheck all day and then come home and play Mom.  I'm simply pointing out that even though Delano and I ARE active and mobile almost daily, I STILL battle the Facebook addiction.

So it's time to quit you, Facebook.  At least those periods extending for more than a few minutes a day.  And I need to leave my laptop/phone ALONE when I don't have a purpose (like balancing my checkbook or writing a blog post).  And I definitely need to stop lying in bed browsing Facebook for an hour after I've gone to bed.  It just needs to stop.  And I know that I am going to have to go through withdrawal.  It's going to be HARD to not know what everybody's up to all the time.  It's going to be difficult knowing that I'm not crossposting all the animals I could be networking.  And I'm going to have to be okay with the feeling that I might be missing something good.  Because quite honestly, I'd really rather not care.  But that's something I'm going to have to learn.

Like any addict, even though "the addiction" typically convinces me that IT is what I'd like to be doing at any given time when there are other options, there are actually things I mentally know I'd RATHER be doing during my down time when Delano's napping/sleeping.

- I'd rather be sleeping.
- I'd rather be snuggling with the hubby.
- I'd rather be paying attention to the TV show/movie.
- I'd rather be organizing the future guest bedroom to get it DONE.
- I'd rather be re-velcroing the gDiaper covers I intend to sell, SO THAT I CAN SELL THEM.
- I'd rather be reading a book.
- I'd rather be working on reading my stack of magazines, SO THAT I CAN GET RID OF THEM.
- I'd rather be spending some time outside playing with the dogs.
- I'd rather be walking/running on the treadmill.
- I'd rather be getting life ready for Baby #2.
- I'd rather be doing many other things I can't think of at the moment, I'm sure.......

So I think October 1st will be my goal date to take a step back from the social media outlet and live my life, as one friend put it a while back, "more oblivious".

I like it.  :)