On October 6, 2018, the prophet, Russell M. Nelson, asked the women of the church to do a ten day fast from social media. This means that we were to abstain from all sites considered social media. My husband and I decided to extend this social media fast to a full two weeks. Personally, I agreed to abstain from Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram and Whisper as those are the sites I use. Cree added Snapchat, Twitter, Tumblr and LinkedIn for himself. These are the only social media that we use and we agreed to make a conscious effort to focus more on the Lord during the times that we would normally be on social media.
What I Noticed During the Social Media Fast
We rarely notice how much something is a part of our lives until we remove it. Social media is like that. The first few days after starting, I found I had to consciously watch myself, because checking social media had become a habit. In moments of boredom, I would start to open up Facebook or Pinterest, before I realized what I did. I then found myself with blocks of empty time to fill up.
Halfway through the challenge, I stopped wanting to check my social media. People who wanted to talk to me, contacted me without using social media.I also found different ways to discover the information I needed to know. For example, there were several announcements from my daughter’s school I needed to know. Usually I relied on their Facebook page to inform me, instead I figured out how to use their webpage to get the information.
Benefits From the Social Media Fast
Contrary to my thoughts, this social media fast was more beneficial than negative. The large blocks of time I had from abstaining allowed time to grow. I worked on my writing, reading with my children, and planning holidays. I also studied my scriptures and cleaned. Without social media I felt more in tune with the Spirit. I feel like I gained more energy and had more ideas. All around I felt better. It was wonderful. I am really grateful to have participated in this social media fast.
Take a chance and do a social media fast for ten to fourteen days. Commit to stay off of any social media. You will find that you do not need a daily dose of social media and will have more time to focus on important things. You will feel better. Give a social media fast a try.
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