I am sitting in my living room chair, drinking a delicious cup of Columbian coffee, reading the news, and listening to Micah and Nathaniel read stories to each other. In my world, this is a perfect sort of morning. I love having time with my little family. So many of my days are filled with the hustle and bustle of helping other families care for their children, that I find I really cherish the quiet moment with my own family. This morning I find the peace of the house in conflict with various conversations I keep replaying in my head. Correction, one conversation and several Facebook posts.
Last week I made the decision to significantly limit the time I spend on Facebook. It is a wonderful cyber world where I can post about my life, read what's going on with others, and never actually have to interact it's other humans. For this extrovert turned introvert, it seemed like a wonderful option to stay connected, without actually having to stay connected. It has not turned out that way. I often find I enter into horrible headspace after being on Facebook. We are designed to live in community, and I do not mean cyber community. There is no replacement for taking the time to pick up the phone and call your family to find out how they are doing, to type an email, or even a text specifically meant for another person, to invite others over for dinner, to share your lives outside of cyberspace. If I want to find out how someone is doing, shouldn't I be willing to do more than check their Facebook status and pictures? I was asked, why I do not want to say connected with others in a "convenient and simplified" manner. I do not deny the convenience of Facebook, or that it provides an easy way to stay updated with our friends and family that live in other countries and states. It does those things, but it also has become a way to avoid genuinely connecting with others.
My work at home world is secluded. I have six children, that I love, at my house from 6am to 6pm. It leaves most of my day consumed with little people, without having the ability to leave our house. It is not the world of a working mom who can interact with coworkers. It is not the world of a stay at home mom who can arrange play dates while her hubby is at work or take the kids out to various events. It is secluded. Facebook has been my social crutch. It counts as interacting and spending time with others, if I read about how they are interacting and spending their days through online posts... right? It is a poor substitute for real meaningful relationship and my decision to spend significantly less time on the Facebook world is a reflection of my desire to do a better job connecting with people in real life.
Also, please excuse my potential typing errors in this post, it was completely typed on my keyboard-less iPad. A first for me. :)
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