I admit it: I kind of like facebook. In the beginning, I got a facebook page because I wanted to keep up with my grandchildren, and also see what the kids that my own kids were hanging out with were doing. Not that I really let my kids "hang out", but they do have friends and many of them had facebook pages. You can get quite a glimpse into people's character by looking at their facebook page.
But before long, I had found a whole slew of people I didn't expect to find. Old church friends from YEARS back. Old school friends. People who used to go to church with me, but moved. Homeschooling friends Old email friends who had left the email groups. Grown sons who moved off to Japan...well, okay, it wasn't a surprise to find him...
I learned it was a goal of some people to see just how many friends they could accumulate on facebook. That wasn't something I wanted to do, I wanted my facebook friends to be mostly people I really cared about.
So yesterday, when someone said to me, "I don't do facebook. I don't have time for that." I just smiled. I knew in a way it was either a rebuke, or a superior attitude. But it also got me thinking...Do "I" really have time for facebook? Am I letting facebook take time away that could be better spent doing something else?
What HAD I done yesterday that was worthwhile? Anything? So as I was sitting with the kids today while they worked out their math problems, I thought over the day before:
I woke up around 6:30. I did my Bible reading. I have a "read the Bible through in a year" type plan on my Nook, and I am enjoying this one - it goes through the Bible in Chronological order. It's interesting, and usually I try to read two days worth, so I will keep up even if I miss a day or so.
That done, I went to work on a crocheted collar I was making for Angel-Leah. I really wanted to finish it before she woke up, because it was her Valentine's present. I didn't quite make it, but she was thrilled, anyway. I finished it as she watched me.
By then, Luke and Tommy were up and clamoring for computer time. I sit them to work on math games while I found something for breakfast.
Fed them, helped Tommy bath, got them all dressed: hair done, shoes and socks found.
Straightened up the house, fed the chickens and rabbits and then we took off for a Valentines lunch and party with our homeschool group.
While the morning was moving forward, once in a while, I checked over my email group and facebook. It was fleeting, just a very few minutes here and there. Enough to keep up. But all the above was accomplished by 11:30, at which time we left for the party.
We went to the Valentine party and had a great time, then I took Mary Susannah to the dentist. From there we stopped at Home Depot to buy the pins to turn Luke and Tommy's twin beds back into bunkbeds.
We arrived back home at about 4 or 4:30. I did check my email and facebook again, and I was tired, so I laid down on the couch for just a very few minutes to read a book. But the little kids were too excited about their Valentines to let me read, so I gave up and looked at cards with them.
I got up and started dinner. While I was doing that, I texted back and forth from that time on until bedtime with a grown child who is struggling to make sense of life. We covered a very important subject. I was very grateful this child still thinks his mom has enough wisdom to hear what she has to say.
Dad came home with lots of candy. We passed that out, then he and Beau worked on the bunkbeds while I set dinner on the table.
We ate. Mary Susannah and Beau had left for Beau's guitar lessons. Beau had told Mary Susannah if she wanted to go with him, he would take her to Starbucks afterwards. Bill headed off for his office, and I got the little kids ready for bed. I checked facebook and email as they changed and brushed their teeth. I was still texting the grown up child.
Then I settled on my bed with the little ones, and we read for a while. We are reading "Where the Red Fern Grows". It's the first time for them. I have no idea how many times I've read that book to children, but it's been many!
After that, I took them upstairs, we said our prayers, and I tucked them in.
I came back down at the computer, still texting the older child with what was bothering him on my phone, and this time, messaging another older child about something that was bothering me in private facebook messages. I was also having an enjoyable conversation on my foster adoption group.
After an hour or so of this "me" time, I turned off the computer and settled into my bed with the book I was trying to read earlier. But this time, Mary Susannah and Beau came home, and Beau turned back on the computer to do school work as Mary Susannah settled across the foot of my bed. We talked and teased for as long as I could keep my eyes open, then we all went to bed. Or at lest I did. Not sure what those older kids did, and I could still hear Tommy and Luke...
So, I thought, did facebook waste my day? Or was it sort of the same thing as taking a "coffee" break. I do know this person who told me they did not have time for facebook does take time to sit down with a newspaper. We don't get the newspaper here, because we are rural and they won't deliver it.
Did I do enough yesterday? Well, I imagine if I had not sat down at all at the computer, I could have done more. But as a stay at home, homeschooling, older mom who still has little children and teenagers in her house, it is kind of nice to 'escape" once in a while.
I know the computer can be a real time waster, and I admit that there have been times in the past where I have let it almost take over. It was a time when I was a bit unhappy with my life and I was trying to find a better way. But finding that way on a computer screen, I soon learned, wasn't going to do it. Instead, I found more happiness by doing the things I was supposed to be doing: keeping my home, schooling my children, and being "creative", which can mean different things to different people.
I have never played facebook games. I rarely even have time to read the many articles friends send in, although sometimes I do if they pertain to my life at all. I don't watch the music youtubes. That's not what I'm on facebook for. I keep up with my friends, have some funny conversations, and then, refreshed, I'm ready to tackle dirty laundry, dirty faces, dirty chickens, dirty cats and dogs and a dirty house.
I really don't feel guilty - most of the time!
But before long, I had found a whole slew of people I didn't expect to find. Old church friends from YEARS back. Old school friends. People who used to go to church with me, but moved. Homeschooling friends Old email friends who had left the email groups. Grown sons who moved off to Japan...well, okay, it wasn't a surprise to find him...
I learned it was a goal of some people to see just how many friends they could accumulate on facebook. That wasn't something I wanted to do, I wanted my facebook friends to be mostly people I really cared about.
So yesterday, when someone said to me, "I don't do facebook. I don't have time for that." I just smiled. I knew in a way it was either a rebuke, or a superior attitude. But it also got me thinking...Do "I" really have time for facebook? Am I letting facebook take time away that could be better spent doing something else?
What HAD I done yesterday that was worthwhile? Anything? So as I was sitting with the kids today while they worked out their math problems, I thought over the day before:
I woke up around 6:30. I did my Bible reading. I have a "read the Bible through in a year" type plan on my Nook, and I am enjoying this one - it goes through the Bible in Chronological order. It's interesting, and usually I try to read two days worth, so I will keep up even if I miss a day or so.
That done, I went to work on a crocheted collar I was making for Angel-Leah. I really wanted to finish it before she woke up, because it was her Valentine's present. I didn't quite make it, but she was thrilled, anyway. I finished it as she watched me.
By then, Luke and Tommy were up and clamoring for computer time. I sit them to work on math games while I found something for breakfast.
Fed them, helped Tommy bath, got them all dressed: hair done, shoes and socks found.
Straightened up the house, fed the chickens and rabbits and then we took off for a Valentines lunch and party with our homeschool group.
While the morning was moving forward, once in a while, I checked over my email group and facebook. It was fleeting, just a very few minutes here and there. Enough to keep up. But all the above was accomplished by 11:30, at which time we left for the party.
We went to the Valentine party and had a great time, then I took Mary Susannah to the dentist. From there we stopped at Home Depot to buy the pins to turn Luke and Tommy's twin beds back into bunkbeds.
We arrived back home at about 4 or 4:30. I did check my email and facebook again, and I was tired, so I laid down on the couch for just a very few minutes to read a book. But the little kids were too excited about their Valentines to let me read, so I gave up and looked at cards with them.
I got up and started dinner. While I was doing that, I texted back and forth from that time on until bedtime with a grown child who is struggling to make sense of life. We covered a very important subject. I was very grateful this child still thinks his mom has enough wisdom to hear what she has to say.
Dad came home with lots of candy. We passed that out, then he and Beau worked on the bunkbeds while I set dinner on the table.
We ate. Mary Susannah and Beau had left for Beau's guitar lessons. Beau had told Mary Susannah if she wanted to go with him, he would take her to Starbucks afterwards. Bill headed off for his office, and I got the little kids ready for bed. I checked facebook and email as they changed and brushed their teeth. I was still texting the grown up child.
Then I settled on my bed with the little ones, and we read for a while. We are reading "Where the Red Fern Grows". It's the first time for them. I have no idea how many times I've read that book to children, but it's been many!
After that, I took them upstairs, we said our prayers, and I tucked them in.
I came back down at the computer, still texting the older child with what was bothering him on my phone, and this time, messaging another older child about something that was bothering me in private facebook messages. I was also having an enjoyable conversation on my foster adoption group.
After an hour or so of this "me" time, I turned off the computer and settled into my bed with the book I was trying to read earlier. But this time, Mary Susannah and Beau came home, and Beau turned back on the computer to do school work as Mary Susannah settled across the foot of my bed. We talked and teased for as long as I could keep my eyes open, then we all went to bed. Or at lest I did. Not sure what those older kids did, and I could still hear Tommy and Luke...
So, I thought, did facebook waste my day? Or was it sort of the same thing as taking a "coffee" break. I do know this person who told me they did not have time for facebook does take time to sit down with a newspaper. We don't get the newspaper here, because we are rural and they won't deliver it.
Did I do enough yesterday? Well, I imagine if I had not sat down at all at the computer, I could have done more. But as a stay at home, homeschooling, older mom who still has little children and teenagers in her house, it is kind of nice to 'escape" once in a while.
I know the computer can be a real time waster, and I admit that there have been times in the past where I have let it almost take over. It was a time when I was a bit unhappy with my life and I was trying to find a better way. But finding that way on a computer screen, I soon learned, wasn't going to do it. Instead, I found more happiness by doing the things I was supposed to be doing: keeping my home, schooling my children, and being "creative", which can mean different things to different people.
I have never played facebook games. I rarely even have time to read the many articles friends send in, although sometimes I do if they pertain to my life at all. I don't watch the music youtubes. That's not what I'm on facebook for. I keep up with my friends, have some funny conversations, and then, refreshed, I'm ready to tackle dirty laundry, dirty faces, dirty chickens, dirty cats and dogs and a dirty house.
I really don't feel guilty - most of the time!
I like Face Book also. For me, it's a way to keep up with how my family is. I tend to do like you and just jump over occasionally during the day. My computer in general is a time waster though. I am trying to change my usage. I don't turn it on now until we're done with school Mostly) or unless I need to use it for something related to school. I also don't play games on Face Book or anywhere else on the computer. Don't have time for that!! Not that it would interest me. My online time is ususlly spent searching for ways to serve my family better and for encouragement as a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom. Thanks for the post.
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