What I wasn’t prepared for was after 30 days off-screen, re-entry felt like a complete attack to my senses in the most rude way possible.  The time off allowed me to re-connect with what feels right and good and important in life.  As much as I lecture on this, I discovered I have slowly fallen into the screen connection trap…which led to my  feelings of imbalance and frustration. And re-entry was threatening my new sense of peace. Which begged the question, how the hell do I go back to a job that I love without immersing myself in what caused all of this crap in the first place? I gave myself May 1 as a re-entry date. The closer the date crept, I begin to feel increasingly anxious. Frustrated. Could I just….quit? Maybe I would just continue to do coaching only and wholly remove myself from social media forever. As Brene Brown has said in her recent podcast series “We are not socially, biologically, cognitively and spiritually wired for some of the shit going down right now.” I felt this statement in my bones. And my bones were afraid to get back on that wheel.

In todays world it seems like everyone knows everything about everybody.  And that just feels like a lot of…stuff…for our brains to take in.  What your neighbor had for dinner with their spouse during …#datenight.  How much your friends, friend of a friend is enjoying their vacation…#blessed. How angry the neighbor down the street is with her husband because he won’t help around the house…#whocares The first time your cousins toddler went potty on the potty….#finally. How much your favorite influencers daughter loves to dress up as Elsa and provides 50 pictures of her as proof….#letiggo

Why do we not want an algorithm feeding us only the same stuff? It provides an insanely narrow view of the world. It is restrictive, repetitive… at best monotonous…and at worst narrow-minded. We should desire diversity and new perspectives. A singular algorithmic diet limits our understanding and growth. It confines us to a small bubble that prevents us from exploring the complexities of the world. The narrow lens distorts reality, and hinders our ability to be able to embrace differences and variety. In all things.

Saturdays waking up early to a beautiful, hot, sunny day, on the boat by 8 am, returning around 8 pm tired, sunburned and ready to do it all again Sunday morning.  The smell of fish off of the pier during late summer evenings.  Watching the spiders re-weave their webs under the deck that we had destroyed during the day while swimming.  Some of my very favorite memories  that hold an incredibly  special place in my heart…skiing after my dad would get home from work.  At 5:30 I would be standing at the door with boat keys in hand.  We would take off.  This is about the time that summer starts to move into fall, and while it was still warm, all of the vacationers had left to go to other homes. I always felt so sad for them that they had to leave, while at the same time so happy that this was my home and I got to stay.   The water would be like glass.  Not a ripple or wave.  It was heaven.  I would ski until the sun went down.  Just me, the water, and sunsets.  I will never forget those days. 

Are we addicted to social media…or are we bingeing? Or….is it both? The research is limited at best in this area. It is incredibly important that we take a look at these behaviors as the point to future complications when it comes to protecting our kids in the online space.