Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Refocusing

Last night I did something I was convinced I wouldn't be able to commit to: I deactivated my Facebook account.

There was a time when I had such incredible (or so it seems now) discipline that I could log onto Facebook, catch up quickly on my friends and family and their social lives, and then click right back over to my homework or research. For the past few months, I found myself "checking in" and then staying for a shamefully long time. (Especially right before bed. And I was wondering why I kept going to be so late!)

And then, though I never would have thought it could happen, that lax discipline bled over into other area of my screen time. I'm still having trouble prying myself away from Netflix when I know I need to go to the gym. Or do my laundry. Or clean my apartment. Or, for heaven's sake, shower.

At any rate, my screen time was killing my time management. And since my various attempts to cut it down were fruitless-- I tried a timer; I tried a limit of two visits to Facebook per day; I purposefully did not get a Roku so that I would have to watch Netflix in an uncomfortable position, which (I reasoned) would ensure that I wouldn't spend too long on it-- I decided to quit cold turkey.

I am sure I'll go back to it in a week or two, but I'm considering this a "cleansing ritual" so that I can refocus my attention on things that matter a little more. Once I've regained enough discipline to be able to control myself, I think I'll go back to Facebook-land for the occasional visit.

3 comments:

Infinitely Bizarre said...

I have tried that before as well, 3 days later panic set it.

Deb said...

It's especially hard when and if you have all your devices set on Facebook alerts or whatever social network you have to alert you every time someone comments or emails you. I had to turn all my notifications off or it'll just wake me out of a deep slumber and...yes... I will have to check... Many things can become an addiction. *sigh*

Lauren Frisch said...

Feeling the same way, but I admire the strength to just drop it spontaneously. I had to ponder months and months and then wait for the excuse of Lent to finally be moved to action. Guess I'll just have to call you instead! :)