The 7-Day, 5-Minute Facebook Challenge!!!

October 17, 2015

If you had told me four years ago that I would be much happier and stress-free if I cut back on writing, I'd tell you to take your opinions and stick them where the sun didn't shine before grabbing the nearest ball point pen and attempting to stab you with it.

I know, I know.  That escalated quickly.

Of course, now that I have reduced my blog posts to 3-4 a week, I'm surprisingly okay with it.  In fact, I don't feel pressured to deliver new product every day.  And, I really don't feel any stress when it comes to feeling a need to do this every day.

Instead, I save my stress for work, as I'm sure 99% of us who do have a job will agree.

I have been noticing that I've developed a new love for writing by not doing it as often.  No longer does it seem like a chore.  More than often, it's become fun again.  And, I'm finding that I'm coming up with better topics to talk about when I can research them at my own leisure.

So, I thought to myself...why not do the same with social media?

I was offline for two weeks while I was moving into my new place.  It wasn't planned that way...it just happened that way.  And you know what?  I really didn't miss it at all.  I didn't have any withdrawal symptoms from being away from Facebook or Twitter.  Truth be told, it was quite nice not being around.

I mean, seriously, what was I missing?  10,000 cat memes?  Stories about the Kardashians that had me scratching my head over why they could even be considered news?  The fact that Kanye West and Lindsay Lohan have announced that they want to run for President of the United States of America in 2020?

(I'm not kidding about that last one either.  Lord help the American people if either one ever becomes President.)

So, the obvious solution is to deactivate all methods of social media for good and just go on living life happily, right?

Well, no.  Not exactly.

I can see the good things that social media can bring.  Without it, not many people would be directed to read this blog.  And granted, my blog may not be as popular as say Perez Hilton's, but it IS a true reflection of who I am as a person.  And for someone who is very much an introvert, I find writing in words to be much easier than trying to start up a spoken word conversation.  I'm sure there are others who would agree.

But that being said, I think it's time for me to challenge myself, and cut WAY back on how much time I spend on social media.  And believe me, it's very easy to find yourself checking it when you're not even aware that you are doing it.

So, I'm going to take part in the 7-Day, 5-Minute Facebook Challenge.

And, yeah.  I made up the name.  Not very catchy, but it gets the job done.

What that means is that for the next seven days (beginning tomorrow), I will be checking into social media for FIVE MINUTES each day, and ONLY five minutes.  This gives me enough time to post birthday greetings, post links to my blog, and respond to any messages that I might get.  After the five minutes are up, NO MORE SOCIAL MEDIA.  Instead, I would use that time for other things that I have been putting off forever, and getting them done.

After all, it doesn't seem like we waste that much time on social media, but when you add it all up over the time frame of a year...well...it's enough to stop your heart!

Who knows?  After the seven day period is over, I could find a way to make it last 14 days...then 21. 

I'm taking the 7-day, 5-minute Facebook Challenge.  Are you?