This blog post started off as “Wow, I have been so busy” post. Until I realized that, really, I hadn’t really been all that creative from a crafting standpoint lately.
Okay…not entirely true. I’ve knit a few rows here and there, and I have spun up a batt and started a new braid of fibre earlier this week. I bought a sewing machine and took up sewing, but I am pretty sure if not for the involvement of my Mom and my friend Karen, that the machine would still be collecting dust in the corner, and I’d have the most expensive pair of pyjama pants on the planet.
Otherwise, I haven’t really felt like I have accomplished much in recent weeks. When I looked at my internet habits, I located a large part of the answer to the question, “Why the heck not?”. I realized that I lose hours a day to social media. And I wish to God I were exaggerating. The worst (although not nearly only) time sink occurs in the mornings. I wake up, reach for my iPad or iPhone and lose every bit of 60-90 minutes checking social media, before I even make it out of bed. Instagram, Twitter, Ravelry, Pinterest, and by far the biggest time suck of all…Facebook. Facebook, dear readers, is seriously killing my creativity.
First off, it’s the unbelievable amount of time it takes to read everyone’s statuses, and admire C’s artfully crafted café photo, R’s picture of her daughter at her recital and T’s picture of her beach vacation. Then there’s the clickbait articles that take me down a completely different rabbit hole, from which it takes me ages to return. And then…there’s the comments. Internet Rule Number 1: NEVER read the comments. A cardinal rule I break every. single. time. A rule that, when I break it, seriously leaves me wondering about the future of humanity.
Then there’s the impact some of the stuff I read on my mood and psyche. These are mostly sad animal stories, that, as an animal lover, just take all the good right out of me, but there certainly are lots of others that just leave me sad and morose.
I read a quote yesterday: “It’s amazing how long it takes to complete something we’re not working on.”. So I made a decision. I am seriously curtailing my Facebook use…in fact, for the next few days, I am avoiding it altogether. Other media may follow, although I will likely stick with Instagram as it eats up far less time than the others and inspires me with all the pretty pictures. And you’ll have to pry my Ravelry login out of my cold dead hands (brain?). But I digress…
This morning was officially Day 1 (even though I signed off Facebook mid-day yesterday) and when I woke up, took 2 minutes to check my email. Then, wonder of wonders, I actually got up, went downstairs, sat at my wheel and spun.
JulieSpins Braid of Merino Silk in Black Cherry Blossom
Amazing.
Who knew that actually working on something meant you’d, you know, get more done?
First Light Handcrafts 
I remember the day I simply deactivated my Facebook profile just to stop the noise of everyone’s status updates in my head every time I read through it… I stayed off it for a good six months and, even though I do check it to see if there are any updates from one group I’m in, I make it a point to ONLY read that group update and not read anyone’s status updates, look at anyone’s photos, or do anything else on Facebook. It’s amazing how much more productive we can become without Facebook.
Oh my gosh…what a perfect way to put that! Yes, this is exactly how I feel. It’s like my brain never quiets…it just spins and spins, and not in any sort of productive way.
I don’t know that I want to leave…I do use it to keep in contact with people of whom I don’t want to lose track. But self-imposed “Facebook vacations” may be just the ticket. The alternative is a limit such as, “I will give myself x minutes a day on this particular platform.”
Facebook actually keeps your account even if you “deactivate” the account; I think it’s their way of keeping people coming back so they can make more advertising revenue. You won’t have to worry about losing any of your profile data, friends, groups, etc. if you choose to deactivate, and your account automatically reactivates the moment you sign in.
So, do you think there’s a benefit to deactivation, then? Over just not logging in, I mean? Or does it just stop people from tagging/poking/messaging you?
I think deactivation just removes the temptation to check it since you temporarily stop “existing” in the space of Facebook, so it prevents anyone from tagging/poking/messaging you. Even though the possibility of reactivation exists, just the fact that I stopped “existing” on Facebook removed the temptation to check anything because, simply, there’d be nothing to check.
I am with you Rayna, it is a huge time suck..if you let it. To quiet my brain, I stay off my table/phone aft it starts getting dark. It helps me get to sleep.
Unfortunately it seems to be the only way that my sisters keep in touch and that makes me sad.
It’s an easy trap to fall into. I force myself to email you often because I remind myself that our friendship is more than the beautiful quilt photo you added to Facebook the other day. Facebook gives you a false sense of intimacy, for sure. And it makes me lazy with respect to keeping in touch. (I had written “us” but I cannot speak for everyone.)
Next time you’re tempted to fritter your life away on Facebook, go look at that beautiful yarn you’ve spun! Facebook leaves us with nothing tangible or real . . .
Now there’s a thought! And it’s funny…my husband is a gamer and I give him a hard time about the fact that his hobby doesn’t create anything tangible. I had not looked at Facebook in a similar vein. You can bet I will now.
ohhh black cherry blossom is gorgeous!
It really is! I am working on a couple of new designs at the moment, but as soon as they are done, I need to get back to spinning!
Hey all, I want in on this discussion! I’m Facebook free too and loving it- this is how I manage to knit so much!