A friend sent me the following article and Farmboy has been mentioning it a lot lately. But, no sooner have I decided to make a change than I get sucked back into the digital world.

I have used a powerful title for this post because I feel very strongly about this. I am utterly guilty when it comes to what is written below, but I am finally ready to make a change.

Jarrid Wilson wrote the following article at the end of last year. Jarrid is a pastor, and although a lot of what he has to say on his blog might not be everyone's cup of tea, I think he makes some very good points below. Let me know your thoughts on this in the comments section below. I'd be interested to hear what you make of this (and all the other articles like it).

"Before you start assuming I will be leaving my wife, let me just tell you that’s just simply not the case. I’m looking to leave someone else. Someone you may not know about. Someone who takes up most of my time, distracts me from spending time with my wife, and even spends time with me during the late hours of the night.

Her name is iPhone 5. She’s extremely smart, funny, reliable, and keeps me up to date with all the latest trends. And although she’s always by my side, I can’t help but notice that she is keeping me from spending time with the people who matter most in my life: God, my wife, my family, and my dreams.

She’s really good at keeping my attention. So much so that I’ve been known to completely ignore people when they are trying to have a conversation with me. She tempts me to use her apps while at church, weddings and funerals, instead of enjoying the moment un-distracted. She even keeps me from working on personal projects that have strict dead-lines.

She’s extremely insensitive when it comes to my safety, and is always tempting me to be with her while I drive. I can’t help but notice she is slowly infecting my social life, my marriage, and the lives of those around me. Many people act like it’s no big deal, but I imagine the longer one ignores this issue, the worse one’s personal relationships will be affected in the long run.

We need to bring our phones back to being an accessory, not a priority.

2014 Challenge: Divorce your phone, your apps, your social-feeds, and engage in relationships with people that actually matter. Vow to spend a significant amount of time off your mobile-devices, unplugged, and instead get back to making personal relationships that will stand the test of time.

Other than God, my wife deserves to be the #1 priority in my life and I don’t want anything to get in the way of that. The reality is, we’re all married to our phones in one way or another.

Mind you. Not everyone struggles with this. But I hope you will take this into consideration regardless.

Learn to balance the time you spend on your phone.
Make your phone an accessory rather than a priority.
Give yourself limitations as to when and where your phone can be used.
Control how you use your phone, and stop allowing your phone to control you.
Try spending parts of your weekends unplugged, offline, and away from your mobile device.

In 2014, I vow to divorce my phone. Will you join me? Share this with a friend, and let’s get the “Divorce Your Phone” movement going."

-Jarrid Wilson

I am going to be weaning myself off Facebook from today, removing it from my phone and only checking in once or twice a week. Now I realise you've probably landed up here on my blog via the link I posted on Facebook, and this may seem hypocritical to you. I guess it is. However, I don't want to be one of those people who rants about Facebook and then has to tell the whole world that they have removed their profile. I just want to say here that I will be out of touch there (and on all the other platforms) for the time being, opting instead to be contactable via the 'old school' methods of phone and email (citygirlsearching@gmail.com).

One of the biggest advantages of Facebook for us has been the constant feed of photographs we have been able to share with our family and friends while living here in South Korea. I am going to continue with sharing snippets of our lives and photographs of pretty things, but I will be trying to limit it to being only here on blog. I love blogging and it takes up enough of my personal time as it is, but the combination of Facebook, blog, Twitter & Instagram is just too much of a life sucker.

If you would like to stay in touch and check in on us, you can pop by here on the blog. I will keep the Facebook Page for the blog active, mainly to post links to blog posts. Please don't berate me if slip up and you see me liking and commenting on peoples statuses on Facebook. As with any addiction, will power is key. Addiction may sound like an exaggeration, and although Social Media may not be as harmful to my health as drugs and alcohol, it is just as harmful to my personal relationships with my friends and husband.

Have a lovely day everyone, I'm off to attempt a new book I have been meaning to read for months. I'm sure a whole lot of free time is about to open up and I plan on enjoying every moment, rather than trying to capture it and share it with the world. Will you join me?

x

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