{this post i wrote a handful of months ago…}

In the very instant the I find myself wrapped up in some new site or app or way to plaster my life all over my neighbors’ computers, I realize how disgusted I feel with myself.
I am often a slave to this social media whale taking over what used to be known as human contact, and yet, in many ways I am the very poster child for why it exists.

I realized that this obsession was getting worse when I went to add the little social media icons to my blog… Really I just think they look fun on there and I have become somewhat of an HTML geek so I wanted to know how to do it… They come in a set with 30 or so different icons! Do we really have that many places to share information?

It’s like going to an all-you-can-eat buffet.
It’s cheap, usually tasteless, but fills you up. And that’s satisfying.
But really? Who needs to eat all they can eat?

I will admit, leaving all my friends to be in a new place when I was in-between clubs,
(the married-no-kids and the married-with-kids) meant i was pregnant and alone in a place where i knew no one…
I clung to social media like it was my job.

Now I find it is more of an addiction than I care to admit. I find that if I use it in moderation, after I do other things I consider productive, it doesn’t bother me much, but when I realize my child is two feet away and literally screaming for my attention while I hurry and finish a post or pinning something to pinterest,
I have gone too far into the whale…

my 5 ways to survive:

1- I will take at least an hour technology brake everyday. Phone off and all. And I will cross something off of my to do list. On my list every day: laugh, preferably outside, with my kid.

2- I have been truly trying to use social media as a form of connecting and communicating with people. That means I try to read those who stop by [on those various info-sharing places] and and I comment back to instigate conversation. I know for myself, a comment is flattering because I know you care. I want to do the same.  I think the one-sided conversation is often what makes it so….one-sided.

3- I will not get wrapped up in others’ lives to the point that I feel upset at myself for my lack of creativity, financial stability, talent, or wardrobe. and i will have to tell myself that i am perfectly ok with where i am at….every day.

4- I will write and create for me, not for you, and not for pinterest, but because it’s what I like doing and what I’m doing anyway.

5- I will try to read and/or do something every day that is just for fun or spiritually uplifting. (and probably not online) I’m always happier when I do.

ha.
the things i write down when i can’t sleep…
i will say not paying for tv means we are forced to watch only the ones
we have time to and care enough to find online.
its awesome.

we watch a lot less junk,
and we spend our evenings checking things off our list instead of staring at the tv together… which we’ve been known to do…
{stay tuned for some of our fun projects we’ve been getting done!}
and i would even say it has helped our marriage.
we communicate, we plan, we execute.

and tv is only half of it.
i turned off the notifications on my phone so i only check stuff when i think to,
and that only happens when i’m not in the middle of working or feeding a child…
we actually see the sun now,
and have some friends we play with regularly…

its starting to feel like we are having some semblance of normalcy around here,
nay, even human contact!