2013 goal: unplug

2013 goal: unplug

I’m addicted to my phone. It’s sad. I check Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google Reader at least once every 15 minutes. It’s not a habit I’m very proud of. I never thought I would act like this. In fact just over a year ago I didn’t have any social media accounts and I didn’t stare at my phone constantly. Now I’m on the complete opposite end of the spectrum.

My best friend Jon, who I hadn’t seen in months, and I “enjoying each other’s company” at brunch recently.

What annoys me about this addiction the most is when I’m out to dinner. Kerry and I will go out to eat, sit across from the table, and stare at our phones. It’s not that we have run out of things to talk about — we just are so obsessed with our phones that they take precedent. Well, no longer. My goal for 2013 is to become less of a social media addict, and the first step of that is this resolution: no phones at dinner.

Last night we went out to dinner and spent the entire time with our phones in our pockets. We weren’t bored at all. We talked the whole time. We laughed. We complained about work. We talked about how excited we are for our trip next week. We don’t need our phones to get through a meal, and actually I didn’t even notice that I hadn’t checked it. I got a text at one point (I felt it buzz), and it was a little tough to not see who was texting me. But a minute later, I had forgotten all about it. I only remembered it when we left dinner and I finally looked at my phone.

So my goal for this year is to experience less things through my phone and more things in person. I think part of this involves not posting as much on these accounts. Maybe that’s a little counter intuitive to having a blog, where we’re trying to share our lives. But I think that moving away from the “I’ll just post everything” mentality to editing it down to only the good stuff will end up being helpful.