The reasons are many, a few I have seen are:
1. I'm spending too much time on facebook and not enough with my kids
2. I can't even go to the toilet without taking my phone with me
3. I can't remember the last time I spoke to a friend/family member on the phone, it's always on facebook chat
4. I get more excited about a retweet than I do my kid singing me the ABC song
5. I have no "real life" social life, it's all on facebook
6. I waste so many hours doing nothing on facebook, instagram, twitter etc.
Now, I completely understand the reasons behind it, and am guilty of quite a few of them myself.
I will check facebook, then recheck it 5 minutes later. I will take photos of my meal, be it at home or when I'm out, and I'll post it right then and there on instagram, #foodporn is one of my favourite hashtags. Yeah, I have a bad habit of checking when I'm woken by a kid at 4am, why I don't know, it's fucking 4am, but I do it anyway. Miss O has started swatting the phone screen when she is on my lap, she can't say it, but I'm pretty sure she's thinking "put the fucking thing down and cuddle me, I'm only this little once" ... ok it's more likely that that's my guilty conscious less than her thinking, but you get the idea.
I completely respect those that are 1. Considerate enough of their family to sacrifice a huge part of their lives, and 2. dedicated enough to actually go through with it.
However, my question is this -
How will we learn how to take things in moderation, and in turn, teach our children to do the same?
Once you get over those first few stages of withdrawal, it becomes easier and easier to go without. A social media addiction can be just as strong and hard to break as any other addiction. Learning to balance your social media life, and your real life, now THAT is really hard.
Making the choice NOT to take your phone to the loo, or NOT checking your feed at 4am, placing self imposed bans during certain hours of the day, and making one on one time with your kids a real thing, not something you do with your phone in one hand while you post photos and status's about it. Post it after the fact, during your facebook time, not when you should be making memories with your family.
The key is to learn when and where is the appropriate time, and to prioritise, your kids and your family should come before a status.
So, my pledge, is to cut back on my facebook use, as I said, I am guilty of some of the reasons listed above, hell, I go take a shit and feel odd because I don't have my phone in my hand. WTF is with that? (just to clear something up, I put it down before I wipe and don't pick it up until I've washed my hands, so no, I'm not facebooking with E. Coli).
I'm still going to drink my morning coffee/s and facebook while the girls eat breakfast, because that's my morning time; and I'm still going to have it open in the background while I work, or blog like now, but I'm going to stop jumping on it like a fat kid on cake when I see it flash with a message or notification.
It will still be a part of my life, I'd be fucking insane to think it's not, but there is no need for it to BE my life, and that's my personal pledge!
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