I was surprised to see one of my Minimalist heros, Ryan Nicodemus announce on Instagram this week that he was un-following his friend list as a new approach to his social media habits. I wrote a post earlier regarding doing the same thing- for those of you who have not tried it, it really is an eye opening experience. What I did to my Friend List
But it still hasn’t been enough for me.
I got thinking about the subject again when fellow Minimalist blogger Craig Harmann, author of The Minimalist Musician- wrote a piece about how he was going to try a social media fast. In the article, he states that he would take a break from Saturday morning thru Monday afternoon. You can read his blog post Here
I recently un-followed my news feed on Facebook. That in itself has been a huge success- my timeline and newsfeed now only contains bits and pieces of it’s former self; it now revolves around art news, and highlights of life I want to see.
But Craig’s post reminded me that social media in general is still taking up too much of my time- and with two young kids at home and a husband I adore, I wondered if I still don’t give them my full attention. Or worse, am I that person on social media that overshares her life?
Examining my motivations may give me greater clarity as to whether or not I should hit “post”
When I work on a painting, am I posting pictures of it to share my steps in creation? Or in the back of my mind, am I looking for affirmation and “likes”?
Before I hit send on the cute photos of my kids, is it really because I want relatives to see them? Or to ‘humble brag’?
Painful to actually think thru the process and openly examine my motivations.
Craig’s blog post forced me to really think about it, as unpleasant as it may be. And his suggestion to do a fast has been intriguing.
Having grown up in the Pre-Internet days, I find it amazing that I now have to force myself away from it- when I lived for many years without it and had no issues. Beginning today, I am going to try to stay off of social media, both posting and watching, from Saturday morning until Monday morning.
Back to my cup of coffee and making a list of things to do in the real world today.
No Time For Wine 
LOVE this! “Back to my cup of coffee and making a list of things to do in the real world today.” YES to both, coffee and the real world.
You know, last week I asked myself this question too “Why do we feel the need to share everything on social media?” Is it because we really want others to see what we’re up to? Or to humble brag, like you said? I believe sometimes we’re just looking for recognition outside ourselves.
When something I want to share takes so much time/effort, I drop it. I only want to share moments of my life/things because of the joy it brings me, not because I want others to see “how perfect my life is” because it’s not. You know what I mean? No posing, no over decorating a post, just sharing what it is. I might need a social media detox too.
Keep up the good writing Brenda!!
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Thank you so much for the kind words! I think as writers and artists, it’s even easier to get sucked in to social media’s “likes” because part of doing art is sharing and discussing the work. So I have found it so hard to find the balance. LOL And for this weekend, I have slipped up two times already and checked my Facebook feed- this is much more difficult than I imagined!!
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I think there are levels of over-sharing on social networks – and the worst offenders probably never think about the minutiae they post out to the world. The fact that you’ve thought about it says a lot, I guess. I sometimes wonder if the serial offenders ever stop to contemplate what their children will think of their lives being documented in public every day…
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I have many friends who work in IT that refuse to use all social media networks and also share nothing of their families online. I think perhaps they are on to something.
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