While I was unplugged

I recently took a week long facebook break. I honestly never considered something like that, but 3 of my close friends recently took breaks themselves, and I knew lots of people giving up social media for lent, so I thought I'd try it. I never really realized how much control facebook had over my life until I disconnected from it.

God called me to run a couple groups on facebook which is AMAZING and I'm so thankful for them, and the people in them. But I realized I am such an empathetic person that I was taking on so much of other people's stresses and letting them deplete me emotionally, taking a break gave me so much more energy and I noticed myself being less "snippy" with my husband and son. Even Jesus withdrew to be by himself to pray and rejuvenate because he couldn't minister 24/7. So I was very thankful for this little break to rejuvenate myself.

It was a blessing that this week it warmed up enough to go outside with my 3 year old! He gathered sticks and made a huge pile of them outside our apartment building. He and his dad chased pretend alligators with stick swards in the "woods" by the apartments. My son exclaimed several times how happy he was we were a family and having fun outside! We ran and jumped in rain puddles and just enjoyed God's creation.

Sadly when I was on facebook so much prior to this our afternoons were often spent him watching TV and me scrolling my phone. Which has it's place sometimes, like the one day that I had the flu and we all stayed home to recuperate from the rough night. I was extremely thankful for the TV that kept my not sick, rambunctious child entertained because daddy and I were exhausted. But we had gotten into a bad habit of zoning out and not interacting much. This break made me realize I HAVE to do better!

Our family time in the evenings often consists of watching TV even with dinner sometimes, then my son watches his kid shows and my husband and I are on our own laptop/phone/computer and no one is interacting. During my facebook break we played Legos, hide and seek, tickle fights, I rocked my son for awhile before bed which I hadn't done in a long time!! We went to the library as a family and picked out books and read a TON!

Not that all that can't happen when you're using social media, but I had let myself get so wrapped up in it that I always had a phone or computer on my lap, and if those things are on my lap then where is my son supposed to sit? He's even come up and shut my computer before because he wanted attention! Talk about a wake up call! I don't want my son to have to grow up competing with a device for my attention! I want him to grow up with memories of puddle jumping and tickle fights!

Because I was online less this week, that made my husband less online as well. We had started reading the Bible together prior to this week break, but we continued to do that more since I wasn't online. We looked each other in the eyes and had good conversations instead of talking to the back of each other's heads while half listening and scrolling our computers. You can't live in an online world every night and have a good marriage, you just can't. Again this was another wake up call to be better!

I had more 1 on 1 conversations with my friends too. You really realize who is the most involved in your life for REAL when you go offline and people take the time to text or stop by when you're unplugged. I had a 2 hour long conversation with a friend in person because we had both been unplugged and hadn't seen each other in 2 weeks so we actually had things to talk about because we hadn't read it all on facebook! It was so refreshing! We sat and chatted and our kids played with open ended toys and no screens were on! I LOVE that the majority of my friends are this way. When we come over for a play date TV is off and we are gonna play, not vedge!

I ended up with a free e-book right before my break. God is so "funny" right and his timing is perfect. The book is called Growing up Social. I had decided over Christmas when all the stations I listed to were playing non-stop Christmas songs that I was going to take a break from the radio. I decided to use my commute to bring my son to school more wisely and listen to pod casts instead. I started listening to this book and it is AMAZING!!! Just talks about the way our children are being raised now a days in a screen world and how to curb it to a more healthy way.

I also read Heidi, which I stumbled upon in the children's section of the library the evening my family went. The cover was BEAUTIFUL, and the story inside is equally as beautiful. About a little orphan girl living care-free in the mountains with the goats, trees, and beauty of God's creation! A story of true friendship and communication and simple living! Her friends lived so far away and there were no phones, just letters. Hand-written letters that she cherished! Our world has lost some of that cherishing! Through both these books God reminded me just how much more to the world there is than sitting behind a screen!

I still feel God calling me to share his truth, and the people are listening online. In this world you can't completely unplug, though I'd really like to. But I can limit my time online. I plan to remain signed out of facebook on my phone and computer, so that I have to actively type in the password each time making me think is it really necessary to get on facebook right now? I also plan to limit my time to after my son is in bed and we've had dinner as a family etc. It won't be an overnight change, but after this week I can't let myself get sucked back into facebook as deep as I was before. I don't need to read every post, every comment, like everyone's everything. I also don't need to share every little detail of our day. I realize that I enjoy my time alot more when I'm not trying to document every second of it with photos and quotes on facebook.

If you've never tried a social media fast I'd highly recommend it. You'll be surprised what you find when you unplug!