Taking a Social Break

Nearly eight years ago, for the first time, I made a conscious choice and paused my social media use. 

I enjoy social media, however, it's also addictive and it's an all too easy way to wither away time. 

So this summer, it's time for a social media break--which for me these days means Instagram and Facebook. I've already sworn off Twitter (endlessly repetitive politics in my feed) and TikTok. Talk about addictive, TikTok can really suck you in!

I'll be back at some point. 

Update

I stayed off all social platforms for a little over three months (at least I wasn't posting). I got back on Instagram in late September, and Facebook in late November. For me, being off of Facebook was harder. While I didn't spend a lot of time on it and didn't post for five months, I still looked at it pretty much daily. 

Social media remains a nice way to be connected with people. It also can help with real life connections--which are much better of course. Like so much in life (everything?) doing things with intention is so, so important. 

Buffalo and Texas

Two particularly heinous shootings: a racially motivated shooting in Buffalo and a massacre at an elementary school in Texas.

An elementary school.

It's just so sickening.

It makes me want to hide my head in the sand. I mean, it's just impossible to comprehend.

And each of these, one today, the other ten days ago, are just the tip of the iceberg of American gun violence.

I don't know what to say or think or do. People like Mark Kelly, Gabby Giffords, and others are doing heroic work to address this issue. I admire them all. 

I went to my favorite place to find an image for this post (Amplifier). This artwork makes me feel better and reminds me that we all have a responsibility to reimagine the epidemic of American gun violence . . . and other difficult problems. It's our only choice. Not giving up.

Copied from The New Yorker: “Don’t listen to those who . . . say that this is an impossibly hard, or even particularly complex, problem,” Adam Gopnik wrote, a decade ago, about gun control. “Summoning the political will to make it happen may be hard. But there’s no doubt or ambiguity about what needs to be done.”

A lunar eclipse

I am feeling insanely lucky. I got my RV situated late this afternoon on the edge of Utah's Little Grand Canyon in a northern section of the San Rafael Swell. I was sitting looking out at the canyon as the sun was setting. Suddenly the moon edged over the horizon, dead ahead, rising from the opposite canyon rim.

That was cool enough, but the lunar eclipse was just starting! As I type it's almost a complete eclipse and the moon is glowing red. It's just stunning.

Utah never fails to deliver . . . but this is really over the top.