Yesterday I decided to try life without social media.
I had a bad day earlier this week after reading all the horrific opinions and claims and just plain evil in my stream. The result of a nation divided by mind control, foreign manipulation and more. All thanks to the very social media platforms that have become some of the most powerful mind control mechanisms on the planet.
Where Was My Attention?
Certainly not focused on an anything I wanted in my life. That’s for sure. Not in today’s world of social media rants and rages and worse.
I’m not saying anything against social media. Quite the contrary. Social media has changed our world for the better… when it’s social that is. Some days, especially these days, that’s highly questionable. The anger and ugliness draws us all into the platforms… along with our need to know anything and everything we can about what’s happening in our crazed world.
What did I learn in life without social media? I learned that I had to control my attention. Consciously. Continuously. We all do.
I caught myself in a case of mistaken attention.I was jonesing to get back on FB within an hour. Literally. That was scary. Then I paid attention to my expectations around that need. They were not positive.
- I was expecting posts and comments that were ugly, angry, nasty. Along with all of my own internal responses to those comments and posts.
- With that expectation, my fight or flight response was being triggered. In my case, the fight is dominant so I was sitting there feeling myself physically “amp up” in preparation for the battle to come. WTH.
- I also could feel the expectation of disappointment, sadness, powerlessness at my inability to help people see the oh so many positive things in our world. The chance to convince others that my own ideals of equality, kindness, love and personal power were the paths out of this horror. Yup, disappointment because I couldn’t save the world… an expectation that was taught to me as a child by well intending adults.
I focused my attention on my work, my real life, and all of the many many things I have to be grateful for in my world. I paid attention to what I want that is powerful, positive and uplifting. As I did that, I felt my expectations change, slightly, shifting toward a higher and better experience. The more I paid attention, the better I felt. About my life, the world and everything else.
Social Media Has a Purpose
It’s an unprecedented opportunity to communicate with our world, learn new things and expand our horizons. I can’t imagine life without my social media community of friends, business associates and clients. I have a friend or family to chat with anytime I want! But I have another life – beyond social media.
Today I learned that I can participate in social media without having it control my attention, my expectations and my experience.
Life Without Social Media
I learned that saturating my mind with all of the nastiness that has become social media is not productive, and certainly not something I want to pay attention to. The expectations created by such ugliness are not a positive thing. Anything but.
I also learned yet again that my attention in a life without social media is, indeed, the exact attention that creates the expectations and the experiences I truly want.
We all are drawn to social media. For oh so many reasons, from the hypnotic trance created by our digital screens, to the need for human contact to an array of personal needs and wants.
For me, I’ve learned that life without social media is a necessity. Time to pay attention to and create the expectations I want right here in my world, my reality, my experience and my dreams.
6 Comments
Ryan
March 18, 2010 - 7:51 amHi Rebel,
Your experience mirrors mine recently. Since pulling back from the cyber world I’ve become more creative. Or I should say, I’ve tuned into creativity instead of focusing on other motives.
It’s refreshing. The fun part is that we do more good for others by taking it easy, not figting the flow, and focusing on creation before competition.
Rebel Brown
March 18, 2010 - 9:22 amThanks for stopping by Ryan!
I love my social media community – but I also now realize that it can be a place of avoidance. This whole experience helped me have a better feel for how kids get addicted to the games. It’s a way to leave our real world and focus on a virtual experience that we create. That’s not a bad thing – as long as its in balance.
Appreciate your comments!
reb
Teresa Cleveland
March 18, 2010 - 9:35 amThanks for this post Rebel! It’s nice to feel that balance.
For those of us that work from home, isn’t it funny that we used to frown upon family & friends who would call us during our work day to “visit” with us. We proclaimed that they did not respect us as having a legitimate business. Yet somehow I have convinced my 12 year old daughter (and myself) that Facebook & Twitter are a normal part of my workday activities.
Over the last few weeks I have spent much more of my time in face to face meetings as well as uninterrupted time in my office creating new content and promotions. It is as Ryan commented, very refreshing.
Rebel Brown
March 18, 2010 - 9:46 amHi Theresa
You hit the nail on the head! I convinced myself that FB, LI and Twitter were part of my ‘job’ – which in some respects they are. They are a powerful tool for communicating with my audience of friends and associates.
but that doesn’t mean that social media gets to take up more than its fair proportion of my day. And that’s the lesson I learned. Set the proportion and stick to it!
Glad you’re having productive days – doesn’t it feel great!
Thanks for stopping by and sharing!
reb
ava diamond (@feistywoman)
March 18, 2010 - 9:56 amI’m still trying to find that balance. I can’t imagine not communicating with my twitter and FB communities, yet I find myself spending more time there than is optimal.
I, too, am rationing my participation a bit more. Yet, I do wonder what I’m missing sometimes….and I’m not as connected with all of my wonderful Twitter colleagues and friends.
I’m sure I’m missing things that are important to them, which is the part I don’t like.
Thanks for making me think again about what the optimal balance is for me.
Dave Finkelstein
March 28, 2010 - 8:40 amwe all need to take a little more time off from social media, perhaps that will cut down on the amount of totally inane information it creates.