8 Weeks Later

AJ Teaters

8 Weeks Later

So, if you haven’t noticed I’ve been away for a little while. Not just from my blog (which seems to be the first thing to go when I get busy, which is better than eating or using the bathroom), but from all social networking. For those of you who did notice (all 2 of you) thank you, for those of you who had no idea I would appreciate a little more commitment.

Long story short, well more like long story abridged. I can never tell a short story. I am in Grad School right now for Professional Counseling, and for this past term (8 weeks) I was in a class entitled Intro to Addictions and Substance Abuse where my professor clearly explained that a dependency on anything: drugs, alcohol, sex, eating, etc. is basically a coping skill. When life gets hard, stressful, overwhelming, boring, overly stimulating, etc. one will turn to a coping skill to calm themselves down or escape for a period of time. What we discussed, at length, was the difference between a healthy dependency and a harmful one. Healthy = not harmful to you or others around you; Harmful = hurts you or other around you, both include physical and psychology damage.

So, unbeknownst to us (the entire class) had to give up one of their coping skills. I gave up social networking and creative writing. No writing, blogging, Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr. I basically gave up my creative outlet in the first hour of my class. My professor wanted us to know what it would feel like to have to live without one of our coping skills, so as we can be more empathetic to clients we may have that have a dependency issue. So for the past 8 weeks I have been “unplugged” from the social network.

I can honestly say it worked. I know that social networking is not drugs or alcohol (even though it is quickly growing to be an equivalent), but it did give me great insight into the mind, actions and excuses of a person with dependency. Throughout my class I heard excuses for relapse that could easily be substituted for drug and alcohol dependency or abuse. “I had a bad/stressful day,” or “My friends had some and I couldn’t say no,” or “I relapsed once, so I just didn’t care for the rest of the week.”

Over those 8 weeks the only thing that I missed was “knowing” what was going on in a world that only exists on Al Gore’s greatest invention… The Internet. I will admit that I had a couple days where they got pretty bad and I started jonesing for a hit of that sweet dark social mistress we call Facebook. I never went all psychedelic freak-out withdraw patient: sitting in a padded room chained to a bed, sweating, hallucinating, clawing at my skin, spitting at my PO and vomiting all over the place… I may have it would have been longer. To tell you the honest truth, outside of those few bad days I didn’t really miss it. I missed the creative outlet it warrants me and the communication I have with friends and family that I wouldn’t have otherwise, but I didn’t miss the gratuitous and unnecessary updates and comments. I didn’t miss the MIScommunication that inevitably happens when people either read too much or not enough into a comment you make and then you are defending yourself for the next week and a half. Those few bad days made me think about why I wanted to run to social networking so quickly. The only rational idea I could come up with (and remember I said rational not good) was that social networking, just like creative writing, is an escape into another world.

I am not implying that any of you should try this, but I did find it eye-opening. It took a lot more diligence that I thought, and I had no idea how much time I spent checking and updating my social network sites.

SIDE NOTE:
I think this post would’ve been better if I would have given social networking a bad ass street name, like “Chuck Cheese” or “Tap Dance” (shorten as you see fit or when the PO’s start to understand our slang), then we can call the people that are dependent on social networking “posters”. I’m open to suggestions, hit me up with any ideas you have to give social networking a little more street cred.