Facebook Fast

   During the women's session of this last weekend's General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Russell M. Nelson gave a list of four things that all women in the church should do help themselves spiritually.
  One of those things was a ten day fast from social media. This is not the first time the president of the Church has encouraged members to abstain from social media, which generally means Facebook, but could include Twitter and Instagram as well, for brief period of time. In June President Nelson encouraged the youth to take a seven day fast calling it, "break from fake".
  I was planning on doing the fast, but thought that I would start it when we go on our yearly pilgrimage to Door County.
  It occurred to me that that might be cheating. When we are in Door County we are usually out and about. There isn't much time to look at computer screens. The purpose of a fast is to refrain from something in order to gain clarity of some type or to show God that you are willing to make a sacrifice. Fasting from social media when you are too busy to look at it is cheating, at least to me.
   Yesterday, I was a little miffed at someone. In order to resist the temptation to broadcast to all and sundry that I was miffed and why, I decided not to do anything on Facebook. Early in the afternoon I decided that I might as well just start my fast.
  One thing amazed me right away. It is not as easy as it looks. It was much easier when I didn't have a tablet and a smartphone because I had to login each time I wanted to look at my page. Now with apps, all I have to do is tap a button and it comes up. I also didn't know when someone had responded to something I had posted or when someone had posted in a group I was in. Now all I have to do is look at my screen and a number is right next to the button. I'm up to 11 right now.
  I also was surprised at how much time I spent looking at Facebook. I have a feature on my phone that tells me how much I look at my screen. It even breaks down into categories what I'm doing when I'm on my phone or tablet. It tells me how much time I spend using each app as well. If I wanted to I could set self imposed limits on certain apps.
  I knew that I  looked at it every morning for a few minutes before I feed the cats. I didn't realise how much I look at it during the day. No wonder I sometimes have trouble getting stuff done.
  My friend, Celine, is also doing the fast. I sent her a text to let her know that I got through this morning without Facebook. During our back and forth via text I suggested that we set up a support group for those fastime from Facebook. She replied that we could do that, but that we would be unable to use Facebook to organize the group. I sent back that we could simply text. It was fun.
  I'm grateful for Celine, because when one does something like this there is a need for an accountability partner. Knowing that you may have to report your actions or inaction to someone helps keep you honest, or at least it does for me. I'm never been good at lying.
  Another hard thing about not looking at Facebook is not being able to see the memories. As many of you know, I like looking at the memories and some of those memories have made their way into this column.
   Celine said that when you are trying to quit something you have to replace it with another activity. It's not good to just leave a void. She's right about this. I have pulled out a few books I can read and knitting projects that I can do.
  Despite the challenges I am determined to persevere. I don't want to be the one who hangs her head in shame because I couldn't stay off for 10 days. It's not going to happen. I'll keep you posted.