TAKING A BREAK

LAUNCHING MY IG APP WAS BECOMING A PROBLEM ... DARE I SAY AN ADDICTION. IT WAS A BAD HABIT THAT I STARTED WITHOUT EVEN NOTICING. EVERY BORED MOMENT I HAD WAS SPENT UNCONSCIOUSLY OPENING THE APP AND QUICKLY SCROLLING THROUGH MY FEED, LOOKING AT THE STORIES, AND THEN GOING BACK TO MY FEED, ETC., ETC., REPEAT, REPEAT. WE ALL DO IT, DON'T WE? WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE IS THAT I NOTICED IT WAS TAKING UP ALL OF MY "SPARE" TIME. AND BY SPARE TIME I MEAN ANY MOMENT MY BRAIN WAS FREE TO WANDER I WOULD START THE SCROLLING HABIT.   JASON WAS DOING IT TOO AND BOTH OF US NOTICED THAT WE DIDN'T LIKE HOW WE WERE FEELING. I SPECIFICALLY NOTICED HOW IT STARTED TO MAKE ME LESS PATIENT WITH MY KIDS, WHICH WAS THE BIGGEST WAKE UP CALL. I PRIDE MYSELF ON BEING A SUPER DEVOTED MOTHER AND HATED THE FEELING THAT MY KIDS WERE HAVING TO ASK TWICE FOR JASON OR I TO GET THEIR ATTENTION BECAUSE WE WERE BEING DISTRACTED BY OUR PHONES. I STARTED TO FEEL LIKE MY MIND WAS NOT ALERT; I WAS STARTING TO FEEL "FOGGY". I ATTRIBUTE THIS TO THE FACT THAT OUR BRAINS CAN ONLY PROCESS A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF INFORMATION AT ANY GIVEN TIME. AND EVEN THOUGH IG IS MOSTLY PHOTOS, IT STILL COUNTS AS INFORMATION. HAVING MY EYES FOCUS ON SO MANY IMAGES IN A 24 HOUR SPAN WAS ALSO MAKING ME FEEL MORE DISCONNECTED THAN CONNECTED AND I FOUND MYSELF NOT TRULY LIVING IN THE PRESENT.