It will take about three days before my curiosity wanes. Until then, I'll want to know what is going on there. Who is posting? What events are happening? Did I miss some good photos?
Every year I take a hiatus from Facebook. I do this because the rest of the year I have integrated it so thoroughly into my everyday life that I think I cannot live without it. It's a sickness really - this constant connection to screens and wireless energy, and but I can't resist it. Drawn to the gizmos like flies to crap, I sit poking, pushing, and prodding these little computers so that I don't miss a beat. I, like so many of us, have learned to be obedient to our little electronic devices. Well, I draw the line at phones at the dinner table. I mean, really? What the --?
I do not like this automatic impulse to wire-up, turn on, but I am a girl who hates feeling "left out." I'm convinced that's why I came to the planet-this time. As I picture it, all my besties were zooming closer and closer just at the rim of the universe, and their curiosity pulled them towards this dimension. Opting for adventure, they sailed over the edge into materiality. Being as I am, I scurried along after them because I didn't want to be left out of whatever excitement this new experience promised to deliver. Well, I'm still scratching my head on that one, but that is not the point of this post.
The point is that I take this yearly hiatus from Facebook and other nonstop social media so that I can tune in, plugin, turn on to me. It's a time for me to shake off all the invisible electronic ropes and reconnect with myself, with nature, with real people (not just via screens). It's my time to listen to the still, small voice within myself, to connect with my inner directive.
As much as I love technology and the big world made smaller thanks to social media and the wide accessibility to people, cultures, and knowledge, I need to remember what really matters. And for me, that is remembering my connection with life, with my source, with that which I have found to work for me as truth. I can't do a decent job of it when tethered to nonstop information, and the constant demand for my time that social media solicits. For all the positive and wondrous things that come out of technology, I don't relish the individual isolation, lack of social interaction and real intimacy that it engenders. I mean, what did we do before all this hoopla?
So it's Day 2 and I have at least one more day before I stop automatically thinking about who did/said what on Facebook. I deactivate my page so that I can't even be tempted to peek in. I like the quiet already. It feels good and freeing to be unencumbered by the call to that other life. At least once a year I leave it all behind for at least 30 days. When I do decide to re-emerge I am happier, clearer, and less resentful. I am ready to begin anew. I can once again appreciate the gifts the new technology brings. 
I recommend it for everyone. Shake off the electronic trance you are in. Stop texting and start talking ... in real time. Re-discover the beauty of sitting in the stillness without worrying about bells, beeps, or chimes beckoning. We need to do more of this. If we did, we might remember how good it is to connect with each other and our environment.
Give it a try. See for yourself. And if you do, let me know how you feel.
Categories Tags
Published by
Egyirba M High
I am a writer, performer, teacher, healer, communicator, minister. I love music, movies, nature, travel, my friends and family. I love life, to laugh, kindness, realness. I write about my personal spiritual journey here. I am also co-author of an award-winning collection of short prose pieces called Tight Spaces, published originally in 1987 by Spinsters/Aunt Lute Press, then again in 1999 by the University of Iowa Press. In addition to writings here and elsewhere, I am at work on a collection of short stories. View all posts by Egyirba M High
personal growth, nature, recharge, reconnect, time out, unplug spirituality
