So, Lent. I gave up something-or-another in high school once for Lent (soda? chocolate?), but I remember not being serious enough about it to sacrifice anything on which I placed a high value, which probably defeated the purpose. This time, I wanted to do it "right," so I picked the habit hardest to abandon: Facebook.
Have I ever mentioned my Facebook addiction? Ok, stop laughing, it's a real thing. When you're states away from most of your pals and your husband studies a lot, Facebook and blog creeping are your pseudo-social way of keeping tabs on all the cool people you know. You can also the non-cool people you know, but that's probably why you keep your Myspace around, right?
I had a few people tease me about participating in Lent (don't worry, Robin, I'm not pointing any fingers or anything) because I'm not Catholic, but I personally think Lent is an incredible idea. What better way to prepare for Easter than to remember Christ's sacrifice and reprioritize our lives to make Him most important again? I know I definitely spend more time on the computer than I do reading the Bible (which is another goal on my 99 list), or in prayer, or at church, or even being grateful for the blessings I have. That time of sacrifice didn't need to be during Lent, but I liked the outside of an outside stimulus.
Giving up Facebook was as hard as I expected, and yet harder than it should've been. For the first few days, every time something interesting would happen to me I would think, "I need to make that my Facebook status!" I was having Facebook withdrawals. I would absentmindedly click my Facebook bookmark whenever I wasn't paying attention, and then come to my senses and close the browser. It was embarrassing. It's still embarrassing. After a couple weeks, though, I wasn't impulsively thinking about Facebook, but I did miss knowing what my friends were up to (this is the part where everybody thinks snide things about picking up a phone and whatever). I knew that some of them were getting married and having children while I was cut off from the digital world, and I was sad to miss the excitement of pictures and videos and new announcements.
When Easter rolled around and I logged in that afternoon, it was a little jarring to see that life had indeed continued without me patrolling its status updates. Announcements of engagements and moves and pregnancies made me feel like those 40 (46?) days may as well have been a year for all I missed. What can I say? I'm a product of the digital age, I guess. Log in or be left out. (You can tell me that's not true and I will totally not believe you, mainly because you are reading this blog right now and are proving my point.)
The moral of this whole story is that I really appreciate the time I spent away from Facebook. It's uncomfortable to step back from something and see how much you depend on it every day. It's the same reason I don't drink coffee or chug soda or smoke, so I'm glad I could apply it to something less obviously addictive. I'll keep doing the two-week "fasts" that I set a goal for, but I'm definitely not giving up Facebook for good--it really is a great social networking tool, in moderation. My new goal is to be on Facebook no more than thirty minutes a day, which seems like a lot of time until you understand how many times a day I just pop over to check the views on Osama bin Laden's death or the pictures from so-and-so's graduation or because I just have nothing better to do (that last one is what I'm trying to eliminate).
As far as Lent goes, I'm looking forward to participating in it again next year! Maybe I'll try and tackle Netflix. Or maybe I'll give up my hatred of taking out the garbage.
Have I ever mentioned my Facebook addiction? Ok, stop laughing, it's a real thing. When you're states away from most of your pals and your husband studies a lot, Facebook and blog creeping are your pseudo-social way of keeping tabs on all the cool people you know. You can also the non-cool people you know, but that's probably why you keep your Myspace around, right?
I had a few people tease me about participating in Lent (don't worry, Robin, I'm not pointing any fingers or anything) because I'm not Catholic, but I personally think Lent is an incredible idea. What better way to prepare for Easter than to remember Christ's sacrifice and reprioritize our lives to make Him most important again? I know I definitely spend more time on the computer than I do reading the Bible (which is another goal on my 99 list), or in prayer, or at church, or even being grateful for the blessings I have. That time of sacrifice didn't need to be during Lent, but I liked the outside of an outside stimulus.
Giving up Facebook was as hard as I expected, and yet harder than it should've been. For the first few days, every time something interesting would happen to me I would think, "I need to make that my Facebook status!" I was having Facebook withdrawals. I would absentmindedly click my Facebook bookmark whenever I wasn't paying attention, and then come to my senses and close the browser. It was embarrassing. It's still embarrassing. After a couple weeks, though, I wasn't impulsively thinking about Facebook, but I did miss knowing what my friends were up to (this is the part where everybody thinks snide things about picking up a phone and whatever). I knew that some of them were getting married and having children while I was cut off from the digital world, and I was sad to miss the excitement of pictures and videos and new announcements.
When Easter rolled around and I logged in that afternoon, it was a little jarring to see that life had indeed continued without me patrolling its status updates. Announcements of engagements and moves and pregnancies made me feel like those 40 (46?) days may as well have been a year for all I missed. What can I say? I'm a product of the digital age, I guess. Log in or be left out. (You can tell me that's not true and I will totally not believe you, mainly because you are reading this blog right now and are proving my point.)
The moral of this whole story is that I really appreciate the time I spent away from Facebook. It's uncomfortable to step back from something and see how much you depend on it every day. It's the same reason I don't drink coffee or chug soda or smoke, so I'm glad I could apply it to something less obviously addictive. I'll keep doing the two-week "fasts" that I set a goal for, but I'm definitely not giving up Facebook for good--it really is a great social networking tool, in moderation. My new goal is to be on Facebook no more than thirty minutes a day, which seems like a lot of time until you understand how many times a day I just pop over to check the views on Osama bin Laden's death or the pictures from so-and-so's graduation or because I just have nothing better to do (that last one is what I'm trying to eliminate).
As far as Lent goes, I'm looking forward to participating in it again next year! Maybe I'll try and tackle Netflix. Or maybe I'll give up my hatred of taking out the garbage.
Comments
Post a Comment