EMontWrites

Whether you call it COVID-19, Coronavirus, or Dat Rona we are ALL in quarantine right now.

Being stuck at home, it’s easy to get stuck on your phone. If you weren’t already spending too much time on social media, you are now.

As someone who conscientiously tries to spend as little time as possible on social channels, my time has almost doubled in the past week. On Facebook I went from 31 mins a day to over an hour. Last Monday I spent nearly 2 hours on Instagram. This Monday I spent more than 3.

Side note: Good thing we are not counting my increased hours on Hulu, Nextflix and/or Prime which went from 1 hour a day, to 5 hours. Working from home is always better when Divorce Court or Chopped are playing endlessly in the background.

Over the past few days of being in the house I began to feel exhausted. I’d spent hours scrolling through hundreds of Coronavirus memes, complaints, videos and news articles. I felt drained.

This same feeling lead me to back off social media months ago. Being constantly plugged in, absorbing all the content my thumbs could take me through, took a toll on my mental and physical health once again.

In a matter of days indoors I forgot how important it is to take breaks from social media.

It hasn’t been a week into this quarantine and I’m already falling apart. As an introvert, that’s saying a lot. We are thriving right now, self distancing is what makes us who we are!

With that being said, extroverts if you need us call us…well text us. We can help you through this.

But I urge everyone, once you’ve worked at home all day and shut down your computer, give yourself at least an hour before hopping on social media. Chances are you already looked at your notifications an hour ago anyway.

Make a conscience effort to do something else. Download a news app so you can get notifications if news breaks, that way you won’t feel anxious about staying updated. You’ll get a message if something happens.

Also, here’s a list of 100 things to do while stuck inside. (https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2020/03/16/coronavirus-quarantine-100-things-do-while-trapped-inside/5054632002/ ). For most of them, you won’t need your phone.

We don’t know how long we’ll have to be in quarantine or social distance ourselves from others, but we are constantly connected through our social media channels.

Even in times of uncertainty, it’s OK to unplug.