Welcome to my not-quite day-by-day chronicle of my 2026 Social Media Fast! I discussed my gameplan here, along with a couple of graces and loopholes, but, to keep it simple, my fast will largely mirror the Lenten fasting tradition – I’m giving up social media from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, 2026.
February 18th – Day 1
Last night before bed I took a few quick measures to put the apps and shortcuts to my social media accounts out of my line of sight, and we’re off! I caught myself a small handful of times today, muscle memory and distraction that would usually bring me to sign in for a bit don’t vanish just because I place the app out of sight. But, it was a successful first day!
Doubly successful is the general sensation of the day. Possibly coincidence, but the day overall felt less hectic and burgeoning full than my average weekday. There was a sense of leisure and focus to things that certainly felt noticeable in terms of my day job. Similarly, I’m happy with what that sense brought to personal projects – significantly more reading and writing done. Cutting away the venue for distraction almost made time seem to dilate; not drag, but tasks take not nearly the time I might have thought necessary.
February 20th – Day 3
Still off to an incredibly solid start. Keeping my mind off of social media is going fairly easily, and I’m not fighting too much FOMO yet. Busyness at my day job is helping significantly; having plenty to keep my hands and my mind on means it’s easier to avoid slipping into that pattern of boredom-induced scrolling. But, a weekend is coming, and the weather forecast is saying that it will be an indoorsy one. That may be a challenge.
February 22nd – Day 5
Made it through the weekend, still fasting! Despite being cooped up inside, I still managed to keep busy and involved enough in other tasks and healthier leisure activities to keep my mitts away from social media. The house is cleaner, the laundry done, some writing progress made, and some wonderfully refreshing family time and making plans for next weekend to come.
February 25th – Day 8
This is starting to get a little bit harder. Not avoiding the specific social media sites per say, but it’s been a quieter work week. The improved focus and scroll-free productive time is catching up with me, and time is feeling freer to drift toward those wasteful traps that got me last time – slop clickbait “news” articles and comments sections of longer-form videos and articles. Regrouping a bit and reminding myself what options I have available aside from the mental candy and rage-bait. Feeling a little grumpy this evening as well; not quite sure what’s up with me on that front. I might just be tired.
February 28th – Day 11
Last day of the month, and into the second weekend without social media. Fortunately, more than enough to do at home to keep away from temptation. A fair amount of life admin with the transition into a new month, some general tidying to do around the house, and, thank goodness there’s sunshine and warmer weather for today to be able to get outside and take care of some farm chores that are easier in these less wintry conditions. And, very fun news… lambing season is upon us! A pair of twins born sometime overnight, already up and nursing and frolicking around the pasture with their mother and the rest of the flock.
March 2nd – Day 13
The new month is starting crisp and cold, still, off and running with a new week at my day job and more than enough to keep my hands busy and my mind occupied. More than expected, actually.
I did find myself drawn into a fairly protracted comments-section discussion under a Youtube video. Granting myself some grace, though – it’s been an edifying conversation of evidently good-faith back-and-forth on a pretty deep and technical topic. Rather different than the sort of short-form inter-silo sniping that I get the sense detracts from my day; this conversation added to the day, and continues.
March 16th – Day 27
It’s a little past the halfway point of this fast… and getting harder to not get drawn toward an urge to check Facebook in particular. We’ve had a bit of weather, and that would normally be my resource for local news on utility outage specifics, damage reports, and similar. This is similar to last year’s fast – it’s a sharp reminder that, as distracting as social media is, parts of it do serve a real purpose in local news and practical communication that has become tricky to meet outside of that platform.
March 21 – Day 32
Went to the movies today for the first time since something like 2019 – I don’t even remember for certain what the last movie that I saw in a theater was. But, I absolutely had to see “Project Hail Mary” after I so thoroughly enjoyed the book.
It was interesting to note the feeling of focusing on the big screen with no distractions from that immersion for the duration of a (pretty long) film. I didn’t expect to notice that I didn’t feel an urge to check my phone, not even for the time – something I still habitually do when watching movies on my couch at home. Maybe the movie was that good. Maybe the fast has given me some good practice.
March 31 – Day 42
Yes, I know, the challenge is technically 40 Days Away from Social Media…. and I’m now past that. I can explain. I’m consciously modeling my fast on Lent (if you haven’t already picked up on that), which, technically, doesn’t include the intervening Sundays as part of the 40 Day Lenten Season.
On this day, you find me basking on day one of a staycation – burning some vacation time that will just be paid out in a handful of weeks if I don’t take some time away from my day job. Long overdue, and its rather a pleasure to take it as a staycation without anything really on the agenda for the time. Getting in some reading, some writing, and some puttering around the house and farm. As far as the urge to get on social media, I’m feeling quite good on that front; after over 40 days, I’ve rehydrated some decent coping skills with the sorts of moments that would generally send me for a SM check-in.
I will admit… I’m dropping by Facebook very briefly and very purposefully every couple of days. I have a social event that has been on my calendar for the better part of the last year that gets updates via FB Events, and I’m purposely checking in to be sure that I don’t inadvertently commit some faux pas. Perhaps not the strictest observance, but, as I’ve noted before, there’s a dimension to which social media has become the basic medium of communication on some aspects of life, and it’s almost impossible to get entirely away from that without denying yourself some of the real-life stuff that we now use SM to organize and communicate about. I’m granting myself that grace.
April 3rd – Day 45
Deeply, deeply enjoying the staycation, and some quality time with my family as we are getting into Easter weekend. No major plans on that front, just marking the holiday with a bit of private contemplation and some family time, and a delicious holiday dinner on the agenda for this coming Sunday, along with the formal break of my pseudo-Lenten social media fast!
April 5th – Easter Sunday
And I’m back online!! To quickly recap, I met my challenge in terms of X.com and Instagram – I’m logging back into those platforms today for the first time since Ash Wednesday.
I HAVE popped onto Facebook a handful of times during the course of my fast. Perhaps a failure, but I also built it into my plan to grant the occasional Facebook check for either known real-world events that are organized or communicated through the platform, or if there were some extenuating circumstance – some familial or community emergent event, whether negative or positive. I’ve said before and I’ll say again: there is a lot of distraction and time-waste on FB… but it is also still the default means of contact and connection among my friends and family – the way we communicate well-wishes, condolences, congratulations, or major events. I did break my fast to be able to purposely engage with those sorts of things.
Interestingly, feeling a bit “sticky” about getting back online. I’m sure that will wear off, and I’m looking forward to connecting with everyone again. For today, wishing everyone a very happy Easter Sunday, and, until next time, may you find all the right words!
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