Have you ever been so into something, you just couldn’t imagine life without it? You can’t remember what you did before that thing came along and took up so much of your time…
There was a time when I started every day with scrolling through my phone, mainly Instagram and Facebook. Mindlessly scrolling through words and images from everyone else’s life . This went on for years. Countless hours were lost to my phone screen.
Then, one day in November of last year, I realised that my feelings about Facebook and Instagram had changed. I had completely lost the urge to scroll. It’s like my brain needed a break from the continuous bombardment of advertising, imagery, information, suggestions, etc. I decided to step back and take a break for the month of December. And because I don’t do anything by halves, I took the audacious step of removing Facebook and Instagram from my phone (cue scary music). Now I won’t lie, I was a tad trepidatious about this. The FoMO (fear of missing out) was strong initially. But I was determined and braved it out.
And do you know what happened? Absolutely nothing. Life went on perfectly fine without my daily immersions into social media. The FoMO virtually disappeared overnight and my mornings became scroll-free. It also turns out I was able to free up way more time to read and study the two things that really interest and fascinate me: personal development and spiritual growth. I went inwards instead of always looking outwards. It was so recharging and invigorating.
I wondered though if by January I’d be itching to dip my toes into those virtual worlds again, but no. I still haven’t reinstalled FB or IG back on my phone. I haven’t gone completely cold turked though as I still use Facebook from time to time for business purposes. I enjoy blogging and the Jolly blog is connected to my FB business page, but for the most part I’m not half the scroller I used to be.
Maybe sometime in the future my feelings will change again. Maybe I’ll go back to regular scheduling and scrolling. I like to keep my options open. For now though, I’m enjoying the freedom :).
