On Pause

Something happens when a place gets too noisy space. We seek silence. It’s normal to be overwhelmed by too much input. 

Social media is an input gamble when you are connected to so many people. For me, it was posts consisting of scriptures, encouragement, advertisements, auto-played videos, vague status updates, random confusing song lyric as a status, religious bashing, unchecked headlines, screenshot of tweets, funny memes, insulting memes, opinionated comments about an opinion on a comment, cute family photos, photos of events I wasn’t invited to, photos of events I was invited to, photos I didn’t want to see, good news updates, bad news updates, prayer requests, arguments, statuses complaining about what others are posting online, political support, selfie!!!, political slam, random personal slams, rude comments, profane riddled rants, I’m just here for the comments *insert Micheal Jackson eating popcorn pic* and for goodness sake don’t read the comments!

Yeah, I’ll pass on soaking all that up for a while. I participated in some of it. At one point I was ready to roll up my sleeves and jump in to argue my point, highly anticipate a response and continue until the person gave up calling it a victory. That’s not a victory. In fact, it’s the very opposite.

I seeking something better than being at the mercy of timelines. I no longer feel the need to inform others of my whereabouts, my current situations, “brag a thons”, and so on. I used to say, “I’m only on facebook because…” Actually, I don’t have to be. I’m letting go of the made-up obligations. My children that have social media accounts are adults now. I no longer have to monitor their social media accounts like I did when they were teens. They have their own adult lives and their own adult opinions that may well be in stark contrast to mine. Anyone that has a question about their posts can comment on that post and speak to them directly. I am not in control of another adult’s account, even if they are related to me. I only control my own.

For now, I’m taking a break. I get to control how much social media inputs into my life. It has been more negative input than my positive output. There are days when social media posts would weigh heavy on my mind. It would hinder how I interacted with others, usually my family. I refuse to let that continue. So, I’m taking a break. It’s time.

…and pause.