Social Media Sobriety

Chemical dependency is only one of many addictions people suffer from in very real and debilitating ways.  In my journey of self discovery I have learned that social media is an addiction I can not feed any longer, at least for today.

The danger of social media is access.  Access people have to you and access you have to the underbelly of society, and there really is an underbelly of society.  I have learned this first hand. Shocker...there are people out there who have no qualms about tearing you down or using you to tear others down.  I equate some elements of social media with the street corner on skid row.  You can find anything and everything, or worse...it can find you.

Let me pause right here and say that there are some really good people on social media.  I've "met" a few myself, that I believe have only good intentions and are genuinely good people.  The "good" ones have a goal or a message and do not stray from it.  They refuse any and all negativity and focus only on positivity and/or their message, whether it be business, sobriety, spirituality or just fun.  In all likelihood, they are the same way in "real life".

For someone such as myself, an addict, anything that can cause or be a trigger must be dealt with. Just as in "real life", conflict online can cause an addict to withdraw and pull away from the safety measures we put in place to protect our sobriety.  Once that happens we are one trigger or event away from relapse.

I may go back to social media at some point but for now I choose to consider it a trigger for me.  I may be naive but I generally tend to trust people.  Unfortunately, the only one who cares as much about my sobriety as I do, is me.  Because of that, I choose social media sobriety.  I am on week 2.