Lessons on Disconnecting

I want to start off by saying I know this isn’t what you want to hear. We all spend time on our phones. Our phones are our lifelines: they allow us to stay connected to our loved ones, they give us laughter, and they’re often the last thing we look at before we go to bed.

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I spent some time on Sunday on my phone. It’s the weekend and you want to relax, right? A few minutes turned into about 2, or 3, or 4 hours spaced throughout the day and by then end of the day, I realized I hadn’t gotten anything done. I had done a few things here and there, but mostly, I felt like time was sucked away from me. Sucked straight into a device I held in my hands.

. . . . . .

Time is everything. A seed grows into a vegetable with nothing but time. All the cells in our bodies are regenerated by the power of time. Every minute of every day is precious because honestly–you never know when it will be taken away from you.

So, if time is so precious, why are we giving it away to things or people (who sometimes we don’t even like) online?

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I grew up during a time when Facebook was popular for young people and Instagram was literally a brand new app. We followed friends. People from school. Our family members. 

Now, people are friends with or follow upwards of 3,000 people on these sites. We follow YouTubers who show us their latest makeup haul. We scroll past the photo of the girl from school who we never talk to–but we think she’s super pretty, so we follow her so we can see what she wore last weekend. We watch dozens of recipe videos but we Never. Make. The. Recipe.

. . . . . .

What happens when you disconnect? Just for a day? Just for a couple hours? Why are we giving other people our time when we could take what we’re learning from them or other sources and actually try it in our everyday life?

I’m not saying all social media is bad. It’s just in how you use it.

I found that between my blog Instagram and my personal Instagram, I was getting more happiness from my blog account. I love keeping up with you guys, seeing the latest vegan trends, and getting food inspiration. So this week, I tried to disconnect from my personal Instagram account and Facebook. I faltered once or twice, but for the most part, I didn’t scroll endlessly as I was doing on Sunday.

I turned on the ScreenTime setting on my phone. I made all my apps shut down after 9:30 pm. I didn’t press the “ignore limit” button.

. . . . . .

And I felt freer. I did yoga before bed. (I know, right??) I walked to the library on my lunch break and browsed the shelves. I read for two hours straight one night and finished a book! I went to bed early.

When I did have time to check my phone, I visited the accounts of things I cared about. I checked up on my favorite Facebook group to see what the news was. I scrolled on the things that made me happy, that truly added to my life and didn’t make me feel bad or guilty for spending time on.

I didn’t know what was going on in my friends’ lives and I was okay with it. I didn’t scroll past the posts of people I don’t talk to anymore, or people I don’t even like but I’m following anyway, or the videos on Facebook that never seem to end (there’s always another one queued up…). 

And I lived.

And I think next week, I’ll try it again. Because my time is precious and so is yours.

. . . . . .

So, by all means, watch the recipe videos if they make you happy. But be sure to gift yourself the time to make the recipe. Taste the flavors. Savor your time.