Give yourself a little social media break…
It's sometimes good to drop off the face of the Earth
Date: 2023-03-17 | Topic: Personal
If you lived through the past 40-50 years, you are experienceing a history, where we are living in an increasingly fast state, where slowing down is harder and harder.
When I was a kid, and we didn't have computers, we had bikes. I am still proud that I learned to ride the bike alone (then I totally lost the knowledge, since I don't have a bike anymore, tried to ride once, but fallen of every time). We played outside a lot, spent time in nature, etc.
Then the computers came and everything has changed. Moving pixels grabbed our attention as nothing else before. Even TV was boring after a while, but this new tech was crazy amazing! And it was literally just moving pixels! No 3D shit, we just happy to see jumping figures in 2D. Our attention has shifted in such a way, that now, even about 25-30 years, we may know the effects of this huge change.
The internet was such a huge deal, that now most people can't leave without them, and they become addicts. I am one, btw. But in recent years I really felt the effects of it, and try to make better choices. I minimized my social media usage, and I treat my health as a priority. I feel like I am on the right track, but on occasions I still slip back to my old habits.
I try to be less reactive, and instead I make sure I respond or just ignore people who I don't want to deal with. One of the best thing I discovered on social media, is that you don't need to respond if you don't like to. There is a comic, that a couple speaks. Woman says: "come to bed". Man says: "I can't, somebody is wrong on the internet", and of course he has to respond, because our brain can't switch to "let it go" mode.
While the internet is a very nice invention, since we can share so much information on it, that we could ever read and watch it in our lifetime. With smartphones now the primery consumer device, taking over laptops, we get a computer in our pockets. Let's not talk about how we give away our remaining privacy to the world governments. We get notifications after notifications. Trying to turn them off, but then we are sad that we don't get any.
Luckily I don't have smartphone to care about. I use my phone to call others and listening to music, podcasts or radio. It will be 10 years old that I have it, in the autumn. Still going nice, have some scratches, and paint is kind of fading here and there, but still works. Recently had to change battery in it, but I still love it. I used to have a tablet, that I become an addict with it. A proper twitter/youtube/twitch junkie. I have about 5% good memories, the rest was I wish I could not remember of it.
If you want to have some peace of mind, I highly recommend throwing away your smartdevices. Get a normal phone for work, which they can reach you. If you need a computer that you have to use while moving, get a laptop. Quit your social media habits. I am still guilty, I still have a fediverse account. I use twitch occasionally, and of course youtube. Sometimes, radical changes lead to the best results in life.
If you still want to use social media, just make sure you periodically have off-days. That's what I do. I still have some friends I like to interact with, or following somebody for nice information, or just entertainment. But once in a month, I take some days off, or even have longer breaks. And here is the wonderful thing. After a few days I start to feel that I am lighter in my brain, I am more focused, just because I don't use social media, just because I don't watch youtube shorts all the time. I feel dumb sometimes, cause I really just quit, if I feel like that it has this much benefit. But compare to the average person who uses the internet, I use it less. I have no smartstuff, I have no facebook, twitter or instagram accounts to worry.
I know these little tips looking obvious, but around 2014-15 I would have welcomed the person who would give me these advices, because when you are down in your life, you won't see clearly, what you have to change in life, or that you are in a deep valley at all.
I am currently on a short break from socials, as I filled my dopamine bucket. It happens from time to time, when I have just had enough of stupid people, or just the news - which I avoid with purpose, but with social sites you can't avoid fully.
As usual if you want to change from a bad habit, it's not just about shaking off them, but try to replace something meaningful. I really feel like, reading books has a good value, since I think it can reprogram your brain to slow down, and focus on longer texts. Any kind of exercise or manual labor also can help, whatever we can do to move our body. Find what feels good! (thanks Adriene!)
I also want to say, that I don't judge anybody who uses those sites, since I know exactly how hard it is to break away from them. I am honestly a lucky guy, who is older, and I never liked tappy tappy screen to begin with. I am more familiar with physical buttons, and I am pretty much an old school user of computers. Not to mention my brain is not really that fast, and processing all those short videos and messages just makes my brain hurt after a while, and it's too easy to zone out, sitting in front of the screen.
Anyway these are my thoughts about social media usage. If you want to see my occasional shorter thoughts, check out my Microblog page.
