The sheer irony of this post; being about how much I now dislike technology and social media but doing so via an online blog that I write on an almost daily basis. I know, it is a little hypocritical but let’s deep dive a little further into this subject.
In July, I took the entire month off social media and YouTube (which I do actually regard as a social media). I Did so as I found myself scrolling endlessly, fully absorbed into the addictive cycle that has turned so many human beings into mindless zombies who lack the ability to be in a moment without some form of screen in front on them. Refusing to be a part of that hoard for any longer, I went cold turkey for the whole month and then found myself just carrying on. Even now, I’m very rarely logging into any kind of social media, instead filling the time reading or writing on here. In those shortened moments, for example when I’m waiting alone for a friend, I purposefully don’t get my phone out and choose to people watch or get deep into thought. It’s so refreshing and I honestly feel like a dark cloak that was weighing me down has been lifted.
The main issue now is to witness how absorbed everyone else is. It’s a bit like when you are fitness obsessed and you love working out. You come to realise how good it feels to be healthy, to be active and agile. The benefits are so much more than physical and you start seeing how other people would benefit so much from just doing a bit more physical exercise. It starts to frustrate you that more people aren’t working out and looking after their bodies. The same exact frustration is something I now feel towards almost everyone I know and anyone I see. When flying home from France, I was in a queue for the plane and counted 8 people out of what must have been 100+ who were not on their phone.
The question I always pose (to myself mainly, as everyone else tends to be absorbed by the apps) is, what are you really gaining? Yes, you might not gain a lot from looking at nothing but your physical surroundings and yes, you might be researching useful information on your phone, but is it really necessary? And how much of that time are you being sucked into advertising, being brainwashed by the vast consumerism that fills the backlight on almost every popular website or app? The longer I have spent off it, the less I realised I need. I’ve become much more of a minimalist, choosing to sell a lot of the junk that I own simply because mindless scrolling lead me to acquire it.
Not only have I got bags more time, I’ve got more money and a lot more energy. Something I noticed whilst not being at work is how much staring at a screen and sitting down decreases my energy. It means even now at work I’m trying to be on the computer for as least amount of time possible. I can’t be the only one to have figured this out and I can’t be the only one that wants the rest of the world to wake up and realise we should probably do something about it!
It’s time to change this up. So I call you out, this week go a whole day without your phone or computer, fuck it – go a full week or even 3 days… I guarantee you notice a difference.
Happy no screens.
BG
benedict. 