Thursday Tippity Tip: 3 Easy Ways to Go Social Media Free For A Week!

Social media... those two words consume 50% to 90% of most people's lives. Everywhere I look somebody is on a phone or watching a YouTube video or scrolling Facebook or Snapchatting their bestie or taking another selfie for Instagram or twittering away on Twitter and many more social media sites that I couldn't even begin to name!! Sometimes I think people spend more time staring at a screen then they do at God's creation all around and more especially the unique and precious souls he has placed in their lives. Social media isn't just killing brain cells, it is killing people's real life social life; The one that actually matters the most! Now, it has to be understood that I think social media is a great way to connect with family and friends and as an outlet for expressing yourself BUT it can quickly become an addiction if it is not reigned in with diligence. Yes, you read that right, an ADDICTION. That is why you will see children having meltdowns in the store aisle because their parents took their phone away or why you see people compulsively scrolling all the sites they just scrolled literally a minute ago. They have become so addicted to social media that it becomes a habit that is as familiar to them as breathing so if you remove it from their life they feel like they are suffocating...literally!What would happen if people were to put their phones down, turn off their computers, and store away their iPads or tablets for week? (Some of you just gasped in horror at the very thought! 😉)What difference would people see in their lives, communities, and homes?Would they miss it or be missed as much as they think?So here is my proposal to you, just try for a week setting aside social media.But how just one do that without getting back logged on messages or going crazy in the meantime??Here are my three easy tips on going social media free for a week!#1. A week before you plan on going social media free, inform the top 5-10 friends/family you talk to the most to hold off messaging you or tagging you or doing whatever they call it these days on social media. Let them know you are going on a fast from social media so that you don't get back logged on a ton of messages from them. As to the rest of your friends and family, don't worry about it because the odds of you getting tons of messages from them during that week is very low. You can also let them know how they can get a hold of you through a phone call if it is super urgent.#2 If you don't do it already, logout of all your social media sites so you are not tempted to take a peek when you are bored. Also, silence any notifications and purpose in your heart to ignore any opportunity to hop on social media even for a minute! The first couple days are going to feel weird. As with any addiction, your body is used to certain habits and when it's routine is changed there is a bit of transition that happens but hold on to your promise to yourself to go social media free because I know you will be very happy you did!#3 Set up and choose specific activities that you want to do with friends and family during the week you are social media free. You want to fill up the empty space (which you will suddenly find A LOT of!) with activities that help nurture relationships with the REAL people around you and will encourage your brain to start exercising its thinking and imagination again. You will be amazed at how much your mind comes alive when it is not distracted by the ever-changing, fast-paced, often stressful world of social media.I have personally done a week of being social media free several times and I really appreciated and loved the resetting and renewing of my mind that came from it! I'm not one to be on social media at a lot anyway but even I gained many benefits from focusing on the people and things in the world that God has placed around me instead of endlessly scrolling my life away on social media.If nothing else I hope if you go social media free for a week (or longer!), that it makes you appreciate the things God has placed right in front of you. I hope it makes you slow down and consider the relationships right there in your own home and town and desire to build more of them. And lastly, I hope that it causes you to want to make the time you spend on social media count because you are going to be on it less. 😊