Wanna know when should you really switch off Facebook? Here’s what you need to answer, do you find yourself endlessly procrastinating by surfing the Internet, posting on Facebook or Twitter, watching YouTube videos, and reading blogs and emails? Have you been known to waste hours looking at vintage bags and crockery on eBay because you just can’t knuckle down and get on with your work? When you have a writing deadline you sometimes have to go to a Café to do your editing just so that you don’t get sucked into wilfing (surfing the web without any particular purpose). Add these online procrastination tools to all the more traditional ones, like washing up, vacuuming, and cleaning out your cupboards and that’s a lot of hours wasted.
It is Possible to Live Without Facebook – Believe it!
I recently went on a writing retreat and I deliberately chose to stay in a house that had no Internet – not because I didn’t want it, I love the Internet – but because I knew it would suck up hours and hours of my day, and the whole point of going away was to have uninterrupted writing time. I was terrified though.
How would I manage without access to my emails? And how would I look things up? What I discovered though was that it is actually a very liberating experience to have a week without the Internet. I thought that I would miss it much more than I did. I missed my printer more than I missed social media, to be honest, and when I took a trip to the local library to use their printing facilities I actually forgot to check my emails!
Switch off Facebook and Reap the Rewards of Solitude and Quiet
Though useful, the Internet can be incredibly distracting. You start off emailing a client or looking something up, and before you know it three hours have passed and you are watching videos of dogs balancing on fences or you are pinning photographs of cute otters holding hands to your Pinterest boards.
“In order to be open to creativity, one must have the capacity for constructive use of solitude. One must overcome the fear of being alone.” – (Rollo May)
Gandhi maintained a day of silence every week because he believed it made him a better listener and clarified his thinking. In this crazy, busy world it would be hard for most of us to have a regular silent day, but it would be good if we could all take some time for quiet, solitary reflection and self-improvement.
We can start by taking a day a week, or an hour or two each day where we keep the Wi-fi switched off. Who knows we might end up freeing up hours of time which we can then put to more productive use – volunteering, writing, cooking exercising, making art – the sky is the limit.
So next time when you ask yourself – is it time to leave Facebook for good? I guess you now have a number of solid points to add to your ‘leave Facebook’ checklist.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author in her private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of Chillopedia as an online Publisher!
