Technology Detox

I remember back in middle school when we had computer lab class and had to try to learn how to type. At the time, I didn't know the internet existed...for that matter, did it exist?

I remember when I got my first email account and I hardly knew how to use it - it was in Junior year in high school because I was living in Spain and lets me honest, I wrote snail mail and don't think I hardly logged into my email.

I remember when I got my first email for college and had a hard time checking it frequently. I remember when they introduced Blackboard, an online forum for college classes that everyone seemed unhappy about (to my knowledge, most college classes now have a Blackboard component and it is considered totally normal now).

I was late on the MySpace bandwagon and never got all that in to making it pretty, adding photo buckets or whatever else you did on MySpace.

I was late to texting. I hated it. It was impersonal. I had a basic phone with no internet and T9 word rather than a full keyboard texting.

I joined Facebook in 2006 but hardly used it. I hardly logged on and didn't have very many "friends" on it.

Then something happened. Something slow.

I started texting more than calling people.

I started checking Facebook more than before.

I got a smart phone with internet.

I joined pintrest.

And suddenly, I realized I was checking my Facebook page 50x a day - not that there was anything new, not that I expected anything to be on there - but I checked it all the time.

I looked on Pinterest and pinned things. I saw amazing arts and crafts and things that uber moms seemed to be doing. I drooled and felt amazed that some moms were so crafty...and amazing...and super.

I had stopped using my MySpace account years before. I didn't like the idea that it was still out there but couldn't remember my login and didn't have access to the email account that I had used to create it. After months and months, I finally got it deleted. I sent emails and emails and more emails until they finally made it go away.

That was over a year ago.

Meanwhile, my Facebook addiction continued to grow. I joined Pinterest about 4 months ago and was semi-obsessed, but not on my Facebook addiction level.

The terms of Pinterest were brought to my attention. They made me nervous. So I quit pinterest. Happily, I didn't even really feel like I was missing anything. I no longer had to feel inadequate that I am not crafty and that there were women out there that could make a paper clip into a jungle gym or built forts for their kids with custom sewn sheets rather than living room blankets and pillows.

I no longer had to feel like a slouch for my efforts on Bear's room (or lack-thereof). I didn't have to feel bad that I wouldn't be able to show Bear the pictures of the custom paint (because I left it sandstone), the stencil decals (because they didn't exist), the fancy window treatments (because there weren't any) or the fancy letters hanging from silk ribbons with Bears name on them (because I didn't do those either).

I quit pinterest.

Step 1.

I have noticed, increasingly, that Nick and I spend a lot of time on our phones. Texting people who aren't with us. Checking Facebook for updates from acquaintances. We could go to dinner and I would look at us both checking our phones. We would go for a drive and I would be nose deep in my phone looking for the latest updates. It made me sad. We were missing out on eachother.

I was sitting on the floor with Bear and he was happily playing. I was on my phone checking Facebook. What was wrong with me. I had the opportunity to spend time with my baby, play with him, smile with him, help him learn...and I was checking Facebook.

And so, I am curbing my addiction. I am not saying I will quit Facebook because that just seems so extreme and there are things that I like about it. But I am on a detox. I am 5 days in. I deleted the app from my phone and have not checked it once in 5 days.

I still think about it a lot. I think I need to stay away until I stop thinking about it so much.

So I am off pinterest, on a break from Facebook and I would like to try to call people more and text less.

It is so crazy to me that in 7 years, Facebook has become such a huge part of my life.

So here's to spending more time with Bear and less time on Facebook.