Pilot

I'm fairly certain AOL Instant Messenger was my gateway drug. I did not yet own a cell phone, so being able to 'chat' with friends long past the hour I was allowed to call their home phone was a novelty. Not to mention how beneficial it was to my WPM skills... Mavis Beacon would have been proud. MySpace came next, followed by Facebook. Status updates, events, and hundreds of my friends' photos? It was love at first friend request. I'd gone to college out of state and it was just what I needed to stay "in the loop" with my friends back home. It seemed like such a great idea at the time, but before long, the ease of writing on walls nearly replaced phone calls. I mean, what if they don't answer? Then I'll have to leave a voice mail. Then we'll play phone tag. What if they're in the middle of dinner? Facebook seemed like the ultimate time-saving friend keeper-upper. Rather than waste hours on the phone, I could just click through a smattering of pics and be up to date on a handful of people.

But somehow time-saving turned into time-sucking. I'd sit down at my laptop and start to browse my news feed and then.. all of a sudden.. jolt out of a coma and realize that 3 hours had gone by. That jolt usually came about when I was halfway through 187 pictures of a friend's sister's boyfriend's aunt's co-worker's daughter's "Thanksgiving of 2009" album.

Remember the anti-smoking presentations in middle school? "If you buy 1 pack of cigarettes a day for 10 years, you will have spent "x" amount of money. Just think of what you could do with that money if you didn't have to buy cigarettes!".  I often wonder how many hours I've spent on social networks in the past 10 years. If I spent an hour a day online, that's 3,650 hours. That's 152 days... 

And I have absolutely nothing to show for it.

The other day I was an hour deep into Pinterest while the little bambino was playing in my lap. When scrolling through a friend's friend's friend's (you get the picture) pin board, I stumbled upon this poem:

 

Now, I'm not exactly a clean freak, and I've never been one to turn down an opportunity because sweeping my floors was just SO much more appealing. But the second I read it, I knew that cleaning/scrubbing/cobwebs/dust could easily be translated to facebook/twitter/pinterest. Here I am with a beautiful grinning 3-month-old in my lap, yet I'm enamored with pinned photos of houses I'll never be able to afford and more DIY ideas than I'll ever have time for. How many hours of the past three months did I spend looking at my iPhone or desktop instead of at my son?

The thought was horrifying.

Thus began the purging of my internet addiction. I deleted my Pinterest account immediately and begun tearing my Facebook apart.

*Sidenote: I'm not anti-social network just like I'm not anti-wine. In moderation, each is good. Pinterest rocks. If I have a plethora of potatoes and company coming over for dinner, I'll probably search "potato" on the public Pinterest food boards for a recipe idea. Facebook has been a stellar method of online photo storage. I have 7 years of photos, many of which I've lost the hard copies to, stored on that account (hence why I'm having to do a little backing up before completely deleting it).

I'm not advocating for the downfall of all that is social networking and I won't be bothered in the least if you don't follow me. I would, however, urge you to examine your current level of social network dependency and to take a step back if need be. Go for a walk. Sit on the couch and enjoy your cup of coffee instead of mindlessly sipping it while staring at a screen. Call up a friend whose voice you haven't heard in a while, or, if they live nearby, visit them! 

And yes, blogs are a form of social media. So why am I blogging? For one, to be held accountable. For two, to share my life with those of you that I can't visit without a $400+ plane ticket. I am committing to blog ONLY if my little one is napping, and if Hubby is home, only when Hubby is mowing or snoring. :)

Not quite sure what I'll be blogging about. If you know me, then you know it's bound to be quirky, sporadic, and spastic. If you'd like to keep up with my little adventure, go ahead and click the "follow" link on the side of the blog. 

"Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a short time and then vanishes"  -James 4:14

Carpe Diem.