One of my digital “rules of life” is to take a week long, quarterly break from social media. All of it.

For me, that includes Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. Messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, and my Messages app on my phone are all free game.

Coincidentally, my first quarterly break coincided with the first full week of Lent which really helped set the tone for this season. I’ve taken breaks from certain platforms before but not all of them and let me tell you, here’s what I found.

1. Pinterest was my most missed app. I think probably because Pinterest is all about creativity and ideas and projects and not at all about interacting with others, it’s my favorite. And we always miss our favorites. Not having Pinterest while planning a kitchen renovation or a wedding was freaking hard. But - realizing that my Energizer bunny brain needs a break from even Pinterest sometimes was really relaxing. Instead of dreaming constantly, I was able to focus on the present tasks and not get ahead of myself too much.

2. I missed out on some stuff and that was mostly okay. People often update life on social media rather than texting, calling, etc. So there were definitely things I missed out on. I missed some key prayer points on my church Facebook page but had a friend keeping me up to date. I also missed some other announcements and life happenings and I didn’t really notice that.

3. It can be really easy to interact via social media and call that a relationship and it is decidedly not. As much as I am wont to send memes or random snaps of my life and call that a relationship - it really isn’t. At all. I can see what someone is doing or they can see what I am doing but seeing what someone does isn’t the same as hearing about it from them. For example, any photos I took of my trip to Montreal wouldn’t come with the stories of freezing or A&W Root Beer before the orchestra. You wouldn’t have heard about how poor the roads are or how hot our AirBnb was. In short, you wouldn’t really know about our trip, you would just have a vague idea of what we did. But relationships aren’t based on sharing facts, they are based off of vulnerability and openness and that cannot come from just a mere Instagram story update or Snapchat. To breed and foster real community, you at least need to message people, but better yet, get face to face.

So there you have it! Life without social media for one week. Didn’t really miss it a whole ton which begs the question, why even have it? Who knows, by the end of the year, I may be social media free!

Stay tuned!