Reflections on a (Brief) Break
Last weekend I found myself in a low mood. I made the decision to take a break from blogging and from social media.
Now you will notice that this is less than a week later. That short of time is probably the regular space for many bloggers and people on social media. There is nothing remarkable about this.
I agree. But for me, I generally spend a lot of time blogging, sometimes two posts in a day, plus a far too much time on social media.
What I noticed is that I feel quite a bit better even after this short time. So why am I blogging again?
I don’t think it is the break from blogging that has been beneficial, although I am sure I do go overboard on it at times. What I think made the difference was the break from Facebook, X(Twitter), and Instagram.
I had heard that social media can affect mental health in a negative way, although I never really took it too seriously. Here is an example of some of the work on this topic.
For whatever reason, I noticed a difference. I did not realize at the time how I was responding to the content I was consuming. Social media rewards outrage and that system affects us emotionally, whether we realize it or not.
I do not intend to delete my social media accounts, nor do I plan to stay off them. I may avoid them (other than for work) until after the election next week. Even when I return, I plan to enact some strict boundaries.
For now, I will be doing some blogging and sharing them on social media, without the pressure of checking to see if anyone is liking my posts.
