Tag Archives: Facebook

Facebook Cleanse

Posted in Mommy Life by

For Lent I’ve given up Facebook.  I deleted the app from my phone and deleted the bookmark on Chrome, all in an effort to be more present in the moment.  It’s only been a week and I find it easy and yet hard to be away from Facebook.  It’s easy in that I really don’t miss it.  It’s hard in that everything seems to some how be connected to Facebook in one way or the other.

I now get my news from the radio, TV (as usual), and more and more Twitter.  God, Twitter is just so incredibly refreshing!  Like most, the first thing I used to do in the morning is check Facebook.  And no doubt many of my Facebook friends would share pieces of information about their favorite stars or latest piece of news.  While it is good at making news disseminate faster than TV news, it slowly began to be clogged with terrible noise.  In particular, a Facebook friend would constantly share at least 3 articles a day from a conservative blog editorializing the terror that is the Obama administration and not once citing any credible source.  Right before I went on my Facebook cleanse, I specifically complained to my husband about a particular person who posted an article stating that the Zika virus was a GMO created by the government (citing other blogs, not one citing any reputable science journal).  It made me realize Facebook was turning into my AOL e-mail account and the countless drivel saying that I would die if I didn’t forward this e-mail to 10 of my friends.  It’s great not having to sift through these terrible posts.

But it’s kind of hard.  I mean I don’t miss it.  But everything in the world is freaking connected to Facebook!!!  Websites, apps, everything wants you to sign in to Facebook.  They make it really hard to not sign up without Facebook too!  Do I want to share this on Facebook?  Do I want to sign up for this class using my Facebook profile?  No thanks!

We’ve also had snow this last week and the inevitable closings.  A lot of people update their business status via Facebook!  I get it; it’s a lot easier to update your business Facebook page to say that you’re closed due to snow than your website.  These mom and pop shops don’t have IT people to do this for them because they take a pre-made website and they, themselves, slap their stuff on there to save money.  That’s one thing that has been super annoying.  I’ve actually had to call a place to see if my daughter still had a her class.  Can one really be free of Facebook?

Overall I’m surprised at how I don’t miss Facebook at all.  Perhaps it will be a new habit?

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2016 New Year’s Resolutions

Posted in Mommy Life, Parenting by

OMG, I haven’t updated in a month!!!  It has been quite a hectic last few weeks with the holiday season.  Hope everyone enjoyed it with family.  And now it’s 2016!!!  How the heck did that happen?!  Anyhoo, here are my resolutions for this year.

  1. Try to be off the grid more!
    Is that possible in 2016?  Yes and no.  For me it means to check Facebook less.  I am really aiming to not be the parent that has their head buried in their phone while their child is happily playing independently.  While I still want my children to learn to play independently, I still want to observe the little quirks that make them unique.  If that at all makes sense to any of you.  The goal is just to stay present in the moments and take it all in.  However, you’ll still find me taking a few videos or photos for Instagram.
  2. Mom’s Night Out!!!
    The one thing I miss about SF are the mom’s I met while there. While I have mom friends here, we rarely were ever away from the kids.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s also difficult to have a very meaningful conversation especially now that our children are walking.  It’s usually a quick chat about a topic for 2 minutes before our children wander away from each other.  So I am trying to organize a monthly mom’s night out; away from the kids, away from the husbands so that we can reconnect as women over cocktails and food.  The first one went really well.  I just need to plan that second one.
  3. Be more active!
    Since moving back to the DC suburbs, it is really really easy to fall into that sedentary lifestyle–just sit on the couch or park bench and watch the kids play.  There’s just something culturally different between the East and West Coasts and our views on activity.  While I still play soccer, that’s not nearly enough to what I was doing in SF.  Granted the weather is a lot warmer and nicer there, that’s still not an excuse to not be outdoors and enjoying life.  So I’ve been taking advantage of the wetland preserve a mile away, which my son loves.  I have a zoo membership this year, which both kids absolutely love doing.  And we’ve gone to museums, which thankfully are mostly free here in DC.  We still walk to our local playgrounds.  But it’s nice to go out on a hike or walk, especially now Sammy just wants to walk all over the place (forget about baby wearing or stroller walking).
  4. Take pictures!
    I still primarily  use my iPhone to take pictures, but this year I really want to start using my DSLR more.  I used it a lot during my son’s first years of life, but I just haven’t done so with my daughter.  I always end up forgetting to bring it, but more often than not I’m just lazy about taking pictures.  This year it will change, even though I haven’t used it yet this year!!!  But we have some amazing trips (both with and without  kids!) planned this year, so it will definitely encourage me to pull it out and use it more.

So those are my resolutions that I hope to keep up this year.  I feel like it won’t be difficult, and I don’t want to say kids are the excuse.  What are your resolutions this year?