Willpower vs. Social Media

I’m supposed to give y’all advice on how to write through distraction, but that’d be like an active alcoholic talking you out of a bender. I’m grateful to my Debutante Ball friends for picking this topic because it forced me to assess the gravity of my current situation:

A year ago I had no book deal and was last man standing on avoiding social media. I wrote 4-6 hours a day and had my mornings and nights largely open.

Book deal in hand, I crawled into the millennium, opened a Facebook account, and got active
on Twitter. I convince myself that time spent on these sites is critical for the writing career I won’t have if I don’t get my ass off of them to write. Now, in order to produce the same output, I am a member of the #5amwritersclub and put in an extra hour or two after the kids are asleep.
Having been Facebookless for the last decade, a short period where I catch up on everyone’s baby-making, political rants, and hilarious insights on motherhood seems warranted. I’m hopeful it’s a phase, but suspect my Twitter feed and Facebook friends have enough content to waste away whatever time I’m willing to proffer. I will, at some point, need to take back control. Awareness is the first step.

So, I hereby declare my 2016 New Years resolution:

• Turn off the notifications on my phone. The temptation is clearly too powerful for me.
• Add a reoccurring block of time on my calendar for 30 minutes of social media in the morning, and 30 more at the end of the day. Paws off otherwise.
• Use the time I regain to get back into yoga, meditating, and WRITING.

If you have more suggestions, leave them in the comments. I need serious help people!