From Escaping to Enriching

Yet another creative detaching from social media pt.2

Aug 22, 2024

*No frogs were harmed during the creation of this post…*

For a life that was just beginning, I was wasting it on distractions.

There’s an adage that goes something like this:

If you want to cook a frog, don’t throw it a pot of boiling water. It’ll just hop back out.
You got to put in warm water first. Then slowly increase the temperature until its boiled alive.

If I continued on this road of escapism, I’d be just like that frog.

Watching my life burn away until it’s nothing but vapor.

So, what am I doing to avoid such a terrifying future?

Where Enrichment Comes In

*Never read on a train before but it seems pretty relaxing…*

Obviously, social media and technology are on the chopping block but more specifically social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and worst of all: YouTube.

This is the part where most people say they’re going to cut social media and tech completely out of their lives, but not me.

From this point on, when I say social media, I’m also lumping it with technology as a whole.

It seems contradictory, but hear me out.

I think it would be more rewarding for me if I tried to mend my relationship with social media rather than completely getting rid of it.

You could argue that my hesitation to drop social media is a sign of its hold on me, and that may be a little true.

But, I know that if I use it as a tool, it could help me grow, instead of holding me back.

Plus, I think its somewhat impossible to complete shut out both of those things in the world we live in today.

So, here’s my plan:

Significantly reduce screentime
Mindfully use social media as a tool
Explore more enriching forms of content

Now, as someone who can be on their phone for nearly 8 hours a day…

God, every time I write that it makes me feel like an actual degenerate.

…trying to get down to a fraction of that time won’t be easy.

I’ve attempted the whole social media detox before.

The biggest mistake I made was cutting down my screen time, and not replacing it with anything.

The endless flow of content my brain grew accustomed to was suddenly cut off and, naturally, I was looking like this not long after…

This, of course, made it exponentially easier for me to fall into bad patterns.

If you’re trying to detach from your phone too, I highly recommend you go in with a plan. More specifically, have stuff to do in during all that spare time.

I’m doing basic stuff like reading, writing, studying, and exercising.

It may sound boring, but I’ve never come from those things feeling guilty or like I’ve wasted time.

These small changes have helped me think better, feel more inspired, and more focused than I’ve been in a while.

Look at me reinventing hobbies lol

You don’t have to copy me. These are just the things I think are foundational to my growth and I’ll probably switch things up when the time comes.

However, one thing I do think is important when choosing what to replace your screen time with is making sure it meets these two requirements:

It’s something you devout your full attention to
It’s something that challenges you

Social media quickly becomes a mindless game and that’s the opposite of what your brain needs.

Your brain is craving slower sources of content. Things it can linger and ponder on. Something more substantial than yet another 8-second video.

Why it Takes Us So Long to Get Here

The main issue with social media is how easy it is for us to justify our consumption of it.

I’d convinced myself I was using social media for “education” and “inspiration,” yet neither of those things were happening.

As my screen time increased, my critical thinking skills plummeted. And I don’t have to be the one to tell you how it’s affected my writing.

What was once a weekly newsletter has become a twice-a-month (if that) newsletter.

Instead of relying on internal inspiration (ie. my life), I used social media as a crutch for my creativity.

It’s a terrible crutch. I’m so over having to literally dust off my newsletter every time I get on here. Sad…

Let’s not forget about using social media for “education.” That’s a joke.

I called YouTube and TikTok binges full of Wikipedia facts “education.”

Facepalm Gif - GIFcen — *Teachers everywhere after reading this*

We easily justify our misuse of social media because it CAN be educational. It CAN be inspiring. It CAN be a tool.

But we miss the opportunity to make the most of social media.

Instead, we consume and we hoard the content.

We do absolutely nothing at all.

Anything I claimed to be learning from or getting inspired by on social media wasn’t used for anything.

Nothing was absorbed. It just came in one ear and right into the trash.

Inspiration is like peeking through a door. You get to see a little bit of what lies on the other side, but you’ll never get the full experience unless you step through the door.

TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube let you peek through a lot of doors. But they won’t force you to take action.

Until I build up my ability to take action on what I see on social media, I creating a bit of distance.

A Long Time Coming

We live in a world where so many things are outside of our control, and it makes sense to want to run away from that fact.

Because of the disappointment I felt when things didn’t go my way, I was stuck in a loop of trying to escape. To push everything to the back of my mind as much as possible.

It was only when I realized what I was sacrificing to escape did I realized I needed to make a change and invest in things that empowered me.

It may sound silly for things like reading, writing, and exercising to empower someone, but they’re part of the soil I need to grow into the person I need to be.

They’ve let me take back my mind, my health, and my creativity.

And looking at a screen for hours just doesn’t do that for me.