I’m Addicted to Social Media.

I’m going to do something about it.

I’m stretched out comfy on my couch. Flicking away. Reading every Facebook comment. Watching sitcoms on Youtube. What’s so wrong with that?

I am addicted to the scrolling, scrolling, reading the comments that are right there in front of my face an easy mouse click away. Easy dopamine hits, like Pavlov’s dog, I click away.

I haven’t owned a tv in at least 6 years. I gave it up because I realized all I was doing was watching crap. I haven’t seen an episode of Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul. I don’t think I’ve missed much.

Now I have replaced the television with the computer, mindlessly watching instead of participating in life.

I’m going to go on a 24-hour computer detox. Will I survive it?

I’ll have to make plans to keep myself busy today.

First I made a big, pretentious announcement on Facebook that I would not be posting for 24 hours. It was 10:35 a.m.

I ate my breakfast of oatmeal, a duck egg and strips of London broil, with coffee.

I could read all day and I need to do laundry.

The prospect of reading for a full day makes my little bookish heart sing. Lying on the couch with a good book, flipping from side to side to keep the blood circulating is my idea of a good time.

I must find a book.

The Jenga book tower stacked beside my couch, included such delights as: Wired for Story, Millard Salter’s Last Day, Writing the Natural Way, Shutter Island, The Bell Jar, Before I Go To Sleep, The Real Lincoln, No Plot, No Problem, The Problem with Socialism, The Plot Whisperer, The Code of the Extraordinary Mind, How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age, Loserthink. The Art of Dramatic Writing, and The Warner Loughlin Technique to Acting.

The winner was, Millard Salter’s Last Day. I had already started this book and had put it aside. I wanted to see how Millard’s suicide plans were coming along. I pulled out the book and the tower came tumbling down.

The book went with me to the laundromat.

I divided the clothes into two washing machines and poured a capful of detergent into each. And began digging deep into my change purse for quarters. A nice woman asked me if I needed change. I assured her I had it covered and with a smile she went out the door.

I had been using the laundromat in my neighborhood for many years. The washer and dryer at my house had stopped working, in that order, and I discovered I liked the unpredictability of the laundromat. I never knew who I would run into in there. I only had to go about once a month and I liked getting it all done at once.

I sat with Millard Salter in the car and watched through the window as the dryer went around. I learned about the renowned psychiatrist’s first wife, his affair with an actress who became his second wife, her illness and death and his recent lover.

1:50 p.m., I am back at the house after a stop-off at Dollar General to buy freeze-dried peaches, coffee, and raspberry fizzy water.

I dumped the basket of clothes on the bed and spread them out to cool before I folded them. Who was I kidding! But I would at least stack them into appropriate categories before I put them away.

Time to cook lunch.

I planned to make Kim Duke’s Egg Roll in a Bowl. I bought the ingredients yesterday including the mysterious fish sauce. I had to ask Kim what the heck that was and did an internet poll to find out more. I’m glad I did that yesterday because today it’s not allowed. My Facebook partners in crime described the fermented anchovies and salt as everything from delicious, to foul-smelling, to the spawn of the devil.

I put a pound of ground pork in a frying pan to cook and went to check on the developments of Dr. Millard Salter. He had made an appointment to meet his 43-year-old unfocused, directionless son for lunch with the intention of giving one more try to straighten him out. He had to know that Lysander would be alright.

Back to the kitchen I go.

What else goes in this sauce? I pulled all the spices out of the cabinet I thought might fit. Now, what did she say? I couldn’t look up the recipe because it’s on my computer.

I added a shake of garlic, that couldn’t hurt anything. A shake of cayenne red pepper, 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar, and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. And last but not least, I opened the bottle of fish sauce and took a sniff. Oh, dear god in heaven, that’s bad. And with a flick of the wrist, a tablespoon of the spawn of the devil went into the pan.

I added the bag of shredded cabbage and the bag of mung bean sprouts and gave it a toss. I didn’t get the ingredients exactly right but it was delicious. Kim, this is a winning recipe.

Somewhere during the remaining evening I cleaned the kitchen, sorted and stacked the clothes and put them away so I would have a place to sleep.

Dr. Salter had managed to get the body that was buried in his plot removed to make room for himself and attend his 75th birthday party. He got his life sorted out to his satisfaction. His son told him to stop worrying about him, that he was fine.

Millard kicked away the chair he was standing on and I closed the book.

It was 10:30 p. m. and I caved. I checked Facebook, my emails, and checked my Medium stats. I had managed to resist using my computer for 12 hours.

The Morning After

This morning I didn’t have the urge to immediately fire up the computer. I started looking for more interesting things to do. I wanted to sit by the window to look out at the world. I need to arrange a little morning breakfast nook somewhere so I can look out while I have my coffee.

What I learned.

Even this small reduction in the amount of time I spent scrolling yesterday made a big difference. I was starting to disconnect myself from the compulsion to sit in front of the computer.

Computers and these modern devices are very useful. They are also addicting.

I use my computer to write, read books, and watch videos to learn new fiddle music. These are all good uses. There is a lot of useful information available at the end of our fingertips. For the most part, this is a good thing.

What is not a good thing is when I get distracted by the flickering lights of cat videos and a whole day has gone by without me making any progress toward my goals. That has happened more than once.

I’ll try to notice when I’m mindlessly scrolling and ask myself, Is this helping you right now? I know I’m going to have to stay vigilant, I’m easily distracted.

I’ll need to have some plans ready when I feel myself getting sucked in. I can go for a walk, write, read, or practice my music.

The bottom line is, I want to live my life every minute of the day and not give it away to mindless internet scrolling.