The danger of social media

I have been part of a certain local area online community for sometime.

I always have enjoyed the discussions, resource sharing and have even met a few nice people this way.

Lately however, I have felt that I've spent way too much time involved to the point where yes....I WILL come out and admit...it was interfering with my life.

When I wasn't online , I was thinking about heated discussions that were happening. I couldn't wait to get back online to see the latest "updates".

 

It is scary to actually come out and write this, but I was taking a lot of things STRANGERS were saying way too personally.

When I woke in the morning, I'd grab my coffee and click on the site to see what was being discussed.

I would find my free time, or time I could be spending with my family, slipping away, where I was caught up in the madness of what was being discussed in this "community".

I went to yoga class this AM and found myself actually thinking about a latest drama going on in the forum....issues that I felt were personally attacking me and even my family/neighborhood this go around.

It was then within that exact moment of my practice that I realized what a fool I have been for so long.

I was a fool for being part of a place that was causing me such anxiety.  At that point I made the decision that as soon as I got home, I was going to delete my account for good.

No goodbyes, no explanations. 

I felt that this was a big part of the problem with this type of social media forum.....it became so dangerous that I was always having to give an explanation; always having to justify whatever I said on there.....even justify what OTHERS said on there....to people who shouldn't have the amount of power in my life that they did. Most are in fact strangers....

While people can be at their best when they are (for the most part) anonymously posting, they can also be at their worst.

So this is my way of coming out and documenting that I had/have a problem with some forms of social media, and I now will need to make a conscious effort to not let it continue to take over my life in a bad way.

There are only a few forms of social media I am going to keep in my life, and most do not involve heated discussions.

Day 1 of moving on and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted.

Time to go hang with my son ;)