I have a confession to make. I have not looked at my Facebook timeline in over 9 days. Yes I have responded to messages on Facebook through messenger and replied by email to comments on posts and posted to my wall through Instagram and Twitter but I have stayed away from Facebook. Why the social media breakup? I simply needed some boundaries and to be honest Facebook drains me. I know I still need to be there and have a presence so I can connect with people but the day to day process of the site is too much for me. I had to step back and ask myself why I was spending time on the site when really I don’t enjoy it anymore. Chelsea (my wife) gave me the idea of staying on but stepping away from the site and I went for it and it worked.
I enjoy Instagram and Twitter is where I connect with friends and ministry leaders across the country along with my sports teams. Honestly, that’s enough. Here are three reasons I am being a little less social with social media and drawing some boundaries…
- Time is limited // I have a family to lead, a church to serve, friends to connect with, and a blog to write. There are only so many hours in a day and instead of watching others live life on social media I might be better off just living my life. I have to manage my time and at times when I am plugged into too many social media platforms I waste valuable time I could spend on what matters most.
- Your drama is not my drama // This is my #1 reason for unplugging from daily use of Facebook. The site has no boundaries so people gripe, gossip, boast, and scream (digitally) non-stop. In my calling as a pastor I walk with people through daily struggles and it’s a hard process. I don’t need to hop on a social media site to be overwhelmed with drama. I have enough drama without social media drama.
- Distraction is the enemy of effectiveness // Social media is useful as long as it helps us connect with people, news, and does not introduce yet another distraction into our cluttered lives. In order to be more effective I simply need to focus. With social media less is more.
When it comes to social media I think it’s time we guard how much we allow it to be a part of our daily lives. Real life is better than digital life and I just don’t want to miss embracing real life because of a screen. Choose your platform, connect with people, learn from people, and then go out and live!
Hey Michael great insight to this! I feel the same about Facebook and follow the same pattern as you do, I post on it through twitter or HootSuite… My next step is to delete Facebook all together, but ministry seems to make me keep it.
Thanks for the post. It is very helpful.
Been struggling if I should write this…thanks for the feedback!
So honest. So very true. I’ve been looking for ways to communicate with our group and my leadership team without being”on”. Dang it’s hard.
it is hard to manage! Thanks for the feedback
Michael, you make a great point. I believe social media is a great way to stay connected to people with which you would otherwise have limited interaction. I only use Facebook, because I really don’t have time to manage any other sites. I have found it to be an effective tool to stay in touch with students over the summer, and those who move away. My concern is not exposing youths to some of the adult conversations on my page, or news feed.
Good stuff man!