What is social media for?
I'm forgetting
Hi there,
Someone said to me, “I need you to get on social media.” It will never happen, and so it got me thinking.
Five things to share:
Will I ever get back on social media? It comes to me after my walk home from the library, while chopping sweet potatoes, dancing to this and that in my tiny kitchen, that this is the wrong question to ask. The right question to ask, at this point in my journey, with years spent away from social media, is what is social media for? Specifically, if I were to ever get back on social media, what would it be for? What purpose would Instagram, Twitter, Facebook serve in my life? Why bother getting back on social media no when I'm forgetting what social media is useful for? I consider it anyway.
A monthly ritual for tricking myself to spend more time offline: Right before the start of the new month, I go over the upcoming four weeks and I try to schedule 1 to 2 plans for each week; The theatre, trying new bars/restaurants, visiting museums, a live show, visiting a friend, book club, meetup events, etc. I look at the films currently playing, the museum schedules, go over my meetup groups’ events, and even Google things to do (city) (month): The internet is an excellent place for finding things to do. I buy tickets in advance, commit to time and place with people, and even plan the cute outfits I’m going to wear so I don’t chicken out last minute; “I’m tired,” “I’m sad,” “I don’t have anything to wear,” etc. These plans are independent of things like my workout classes, Fridays at the bar, and (tryingggggg hard) to visit my parents on the weekend. If, in addition to a full time job, 5x fitness classes, double gin and tonic (most) Fridays, and visiting the ‘rents sometime during the weekend, that I get to do additional 1 to 2 social/solo activities each week, I know it’s time well spent; time spent offline.
Maybe the real trick was making myself become so bored with the internet that I needed to do something else, exhaust myself somewhere else. And there is a lot of time, and energy, remaining when you unplug.
A quote I want to share with you:
I’m not going to spend what’s left of my life hanging round waiting for it. I’m going to settle for small, random stabs of extreme interestingness – moments of intense awareness of the things I’m about to lose, and of gladness that they exist.
— Helen Garner (Source)
The simple things, the tiny miracles, the joy that they bring: I love you, life.
Master your digital distractions (without a digital detox)
Unplugging only ignores the hard work of overcoming your distractions.
A question for you: What small, random stabs of extreme interestingness can you settle for? And be glad that they exist?
Or What is social media for? Or, or what can you find out by paying attention to yourself? Or, maybe, by paying attention to Others? You can learn a lot by asking questions and listening intently— to yourself, to Others, to the Universe.
That’s all for this week!
Thank you for reading, and share with anyone you think may benefit.
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Until next time,
Mehret
I always enjoy your posts. Thank you.
As a writer who depends on social media to bring readers to my Substack, I'm conflicted. I loathe FB, Twitter, IG, etc. but a substantial amount of my livelihood his tied into those machines. It's a bad arrangement but unavoidable.
Do I spend 'time' on those networks, as I did in the past (posting family photos, getting into discussion meltdowns with imbeciles?) No. But I still have accounts there.
I'd love to read your take on this theme in one of your upcoming posts.
I feel like social media was a lot more palatable when we had to sit down to use it. Doesn't mean we weren't on there a lot; we were. But there was something more..... or rather, *less* frenetic about it.