What I Learned on My Social Media Fast

I recently took 3 days to completely unplug from social media. Here are some eye-opening things I learned from my social media fast the last 3 days:

1. That habit to pick up the phone and click the social media buttons to mindlessly scroll is STRONG. BUT, I rearranged my apps and hid FB, IG, and TikTok deep in my folders and put my Bible app in the space I seemed to go for habitually the most (which is actually FB…That’s where my pattern starts). So I put the Bible there to remind me of my choice. And I actually think I’m leaving it that way to continue breaking the mindless scroll habit.
2. Everybody was fine and did not actually need me as emergently as I had convinced myself. In fact not a single person left me a comment or posted on any of my timelines. Save a few folks that blessed me by messaging and saying they would be praying during that time for me. And many people actually reached out to me personally/privately to send me encouragement and to love on me and that actually meant SO much to me. Which leads me to…
3. I actually GIVE more than I get on social media. I work hard to reach out and be intentional to connect with people and while sometimes that’s great, it reminded me of that same situation I would get into in high school and college where I would give 80% and the other person MAYBE gave 20%. In Ministry that’s life. Lol. But there needs to be balance and healthy boundaries. If I’m giving 80% of my time to connect with people that do not view me as a priority in their life, I’m taking away from my family and from the folks that want to connect and grow closer off social media and in “real life”. This was a BIG eye opener for me to see and in order to protect my time I will need to be more intentional about how I spend my time on social media.
4. When I unplug and disconnect from a constant stream of information and news and stress and anxiety…MY stress level lowered significantly. Sure I wondered what was happening in the world, but ultimately there was a nice quiet feeling that I really didn’t want to break this morning when I broke my fast. It was like standing outside at night during a fresh snowfall and it’s so quiet you can actually hear the snowflakes. It was so wonderful and I didn’t want that to end. In fact I plan to continue setting time limits and boundaries so I can enjoy that quiet more often.
5. When I shut off all the noise and remove the distractions, God can actually speak to me and download all the things He wants to share with me! If I pray for direction but then pick up my phone and mindlessly scroll, how can He get through to me? I have a few pages full in my notebook of business ideas for our businesses this year that God gave me the last few days. It made me wonder what else I had missed because I was so distracted. 🤔
6. There’s more TIME somehow when I don’t mindlessly scroll! When I stay focused it seems there are so many hours in the day to get things done. This is something I know, but it’s different when I actually walk it out and remind myself how much of a time suck social media really is.
7. My businesses were fine. Lol. We managed off social media and while I couldn’t stay off completely, I know I can set “working hours” to protect my time and boundaries better.
8. I love connecting with people on social media, but I really loved the intentionality of emailing or texting or messaging directly someone I was thinking about. And it also helped me get a good feeling for how it feels for those NOT on social media. I wondered what I was missing. I wondered what information I needed but couldn’t get off social media. And I have quite a few people in my life through ministry or family or business that do not connect on social media. It helped me understand them better and made me want to be better about intentionally reaching out to meet them where they are.

As you can see, I’ve been very busy these last few days. Haha. Learning and growing like craaaazy.

And did we get our miracles? Well, maybe? Ha. We may not have SEEN many the last few days, but what happened was I felt like through my obedience I was postured to receive the miracles that are coming. And that is a miracle in and of itself! I laid down my worries and stress and smashed idols and put Jesus back on the throne in my life in all areas. I felt something was really stirring in the supernatural the last few days as I deconstructed and now I am confidently expectant for what God is about to do in my life and in the life of my family! 😍 Amen!!!

Blessings,

~Nikki