I’m not real sure what your opinions are but I don’t like social media. Quite honestly, it’s pointless. It creates an excuse for not contacting and truly communicating with family and friends. It causes SO MUCH negativity in your life. It opens up the door for attention-seekers and argumentative people to continue being the way they are. It allows news, government, businesses and more to control what, how and when you see the things you see. I really could go on for years on why I don’t like social media but just like social media itself- it’d be pointless.

The reason I write this blog isn’t to bash social media though. I want to share my story and maybe help someone else. I was scrolling through social media out of habit of tapping the icon full thumb-length away on the left side, not out of interest of how my friends and family were doing. This caused me to read statuses, tweets, posts, and headlines that just made me bitter, upset, or very rarely- happy (cute dog & baby videos have my heart). I was unconsciously scrolling.

This needed to change.

FIRST STEP: DELETE

I deleted all of my social media apps. I didn’t deactivate because I have a lot of images and memories on them that I want to have access to one day.

But because I am running a business where 95% of my inquiries comes through social media and by me being active on social media, deleting and deactivating doesn’t work. For my business to survive I NEED social media.

And because Mark Zuckerberg wants you to get on facebook so much, the algorithms didn’t allow me to get the activity & notifications I needed by just having the Facebook Pages App. I have to actually be active on the Facebook App for the Pages App to work effectively.

So I needed a solution. Deleting doesn’t work for a business owner or when you need to see updates on your child’s sports team group on Facebook.

So I took up READING BOOKS!!! (Yuck, I know.)

WE’RE MISSING OUT on life y’all!

I have NEVER enjoyed reading. In fact, I despised reading my entire school career. SparkNotes & smart friends were my life savers for middle and high school summer reading assignments. (Sorry to any past English teachers that may be reading this.)

I enjoy reading now, like truly enjoy it.

I keep a book on me or my phone at all times. Any time I grab my phone for no reason, I put it down and grab my book instead. It took a while to get used to it and to be able to realize when I was picking up my phone. Sadly, it was such a habit that I’d be 45 seconds into scrolling and don’t even remember anything I looked at or even getting on my phone. I know I’m not the only one.

Before all of you negative Nancys reading this exit out…

I didn’t have to force myself to read. Even though I never liked reading, it was easy to read this time. I truly think it’s the type of books I chose now verses what we were forced to read in school. I hated reading because I thought it was pointless. Why in the world would I or should I need to read a story? I still feel this way.

I needed a book about the things I am interested in. Here’s a snippet about me that I needed to come to reality with before choosing a book. I really really enjoy bettering myself or helping myself in any way. My faith and relationship with God has become such a huge priority in pursuing in my life. Also, anything to do with growing my business. So I read self-help books, christian literature, and books about entrepreneurship and growing a business.

Now, I am on a “book every two weeks” basis. I rarely am ever on social media with the exception of once a day for scrolling and when my business accounts gets a notification. I am actually on the look for more books to read, so if you know of any like I mentioned above feel free to comment below!

Seriously though, get off social media all the time… it’s not healthy! Find something to do (like reading a book) to replace the time you spend scrolling!