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.