I have to confess that I did log on to Facebook a couple of weeks ago to change my settings. Some of you may have noticed that you can't comment on my posts or wall anymore. That was on purpose. I got tired of hearing about the conversations that were taking place on my wall WITHOUT ME!!!! I'm sorry, I only look mature. The witty, funny, and sometimes serious discussions surrounding various posts or comments have been the biggest things I have missed about Facebook. The connections I've made with like-minded Moms have been what I've missed most about BabyCenter. I changed my settings in the hopes that some of my Facebook & BabyCenter friends would come visit this blog or my other blog, Southern Sass & Global Crass, and comment. It hasn't really panned out yet. (hint, hint!!!)
Overall, this Lenten fast has proven to be a really good one. Both Facebook & BabyCenter were becoming huge time-sucks. I played dumb games all the time, got caught up reading about people's lives & drama that had nothing to do with me (a big problem with BabyCenter - voyeurism is so easy on that website), and I felt like I always had to be "on" and available. If someone posted an interesting article, I needed to comment immediately. If there was a cute picture, I needed to "like" it right then. You get the picture. My focus needed to shift because the only people who truly need me right now are Chris & Klaw.
Blogging can take place on my schedule. I can work on various posts when I have time and set them up to post automatically. I have an email account for the blogs and I get an email if someone comments. I can respond whenever I have time. The (self-inflicted) pressure to be present and accessible to everyone, all of the time doesn't exist for me in the world of blogging.
I used to rail against Twitter...and now I have embraced Twitter. I can admit when I am wrong and I was wrong about Twitter. John Reid described Twitter as a cocktail party. You can join in conversations when you feel like it, meet new people, and move along. You can step away for a while and step back in at will. It's impossible to keep up with everything on Twitter, so you just jump in when you want to and walk away when you are done. I love that! (you can also join #WineParty on Friday nights with @BlogDangerously, if you really want Twitter to be a cocktail party)
I honestly don't know what I'm going to do when Lent is over. I do know that blogging will remain a priority over Facebook, BabyCenter, & other social networking sites. I don't even know how involved I am going to be in Facebook & BabyCenter once this is all over. I haven't missed much about it. I've missed connecting with people all over the place, but I've had more time to connect more fully with people in my day to day life. Hopefully, over the next few weeks the balance I need to find will become more obvious.
Have you ever felt the need to cut back on social networking? How have you dealt with it? Were you able to find balance? I'd love to hear your perspective.
Today, I linked Chris's post about our continuing cross-country epic adventure for Sunday Funday. Check it out & check out some of other great posts!
