You can have whatever you like
You into happy?
Hi there,
It cracks me up when grown-ups complain about how social media is making them miserable. Just Walk Away From The Screen??????
Five things to share:
Of all the books, essays, articles, podcasts, videos and other content I have consumed on the topic, Tyler, the Creator’s tweet (linked above) has had the most impact on my unplugging journey: I could just walk away… And rarely do I go on the internet these days; rarely need it, rarely use it. Not in the morning, not in the evening, and not even in the in-between moments. Ironically, if it weren’t for time spent offline the Substack newsletter I would be on the internet even less so. It delights and humours me, my audacity— the nerve— to relentlessly pursue time spent offline all those years. No, not the Substack newsletter but a life mostly lived offline when they said it was impossible, and how I wore the gods out with my pleading, begging day and night to be saved from scrolling my life away on Silicon Valley apps, and finally, AT LAST, life has granted me my wish. And I am here to say, unless I happen to live on a different planet and this is all AI generated illusion, it is still perfectly possible to live without social media, without a smartphone, without all the nice-to-have conveniences of the attention economy. You can just walk away. Close your eyes. You can have whatever you like.
Lowkey flex 😏
A quote I want to share with you:
The world is not simply present to us in its fullness and depth by virtue of the fact that we are capable of glancing at it. Instead, if we are to see the world, we must attend to it with care, patience, and even love.
This kind of attention can only unfold under certain conditions—solitude, silence, stillness—and in relation to certain virtues—humility, perseverance, charity.
A question for you: Can your body poop without your phone anymore?
P.s. Today’s post title is courtesy of Whatever You Like by T.I. (2008) Most of my music “recommendations” lately are from getting lost in my head and random songs from my youth popping into mind. On principle, I buy whatever pops to mind on iTunes and listen to it until I tire myself out. I want to write one day about how ownership of a song or an album makes the listening experience that much more special and enjoyable. I also use Hoopla and Accuradio. 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