We’ve discussed social media here before, so I won’t rehearse the familiar arguments. But on Friday, I did something deliberate: I chose to pause. I announced that, for the foreseeable future, I’ll be stepping back from all platforms—namely Facebook and Instagram. I deleted Twitter years ago; I rarely use LinkedIn; and, in my view, Goodreads scarcely qualifies as social media (so I’ll continue posting my reviews—or occasional lack thereof—there).

This hiatus extends to both my personal and author accounts. I even wrote a poem to mark the occasion:

outside, without my phone.
clouds drift, unbothered
and a dog barks good morning.
I breathe in and out,
cupping quiet like water.
back inside, I leave the phone alone.
not cured, just steadier,
knowing what I need to survive,
a stripe of blue sky
stitched behind my eyes.

For now, I’m treating this pause not as a retreat but as a recalibration—a conscious decision to reclaim attention, quiet the ambient noise, and consider what kind of presence I want to cultivate, if any, when I return. Stepping back feels less like absence and more like intention. In the space that opens up, I hope to listen more closely, write more honestly, advocate more fully, and remember that a life—and joy—unfolds most fully off screen.

Image of pencil by Anke Sundermeier from Pixabay.com