In January 25, 2020, I decided to quit cold turkey (almost) every social media I was part of, namely Instagram and Facebook. I have thought about it for a long time and even wrote an article, a year prior related to the subject.
I’ve imagined I would collect everybody’s email, write down their birthday dates, and that’s how I was going to communicate with people. None of that happened.
In January 2020, I had just come back to Portugal from a month trip around France where I had some interesting but not so fun experiences with volunteering.
When I uploaded something to my IG Stories, the response I would receive was not matching to the reality of life. And I didn’t want to expose myself too much, so I also didn’t give people a chance to understand.
What I realized, however, was that it is easy to make it seem life your life looks a certain way on social media. That was when it hit me: if what I’m showing cannot be trusted, then nothing can.
Other reasons also played their part. I’ve seen so many documentaries on data storing and its dangers, on how manipulated we get, and how we’re losing the skill to concentrate and focus.
So I left.
And then came a pandemic
I had no idea this global crisis would hit this hard. Back in March 2020, when the lockdown was declared in Portugal, I had in mind things would be back to normal in no time. Who didn’t?
I went through lockdown and the whole year of 2020 oblivious of the state of things in the world and most especially in my home country, Brazil.
I was checking in with friends and family via WhatsApp, which at the time (and now still) was not possible to quit. But it is not the same as if I was following their day-to-day.
Here are some things I noticed after being back for about two months:
- My distraction level went up to the roof. I’m finding it hard to make myself finish a short video on YouTube and it takes me way longer to focus to write something up, as opposed to last year when I wrote every day for 3 months;
- I’m having a harder time remembering things I’ve seen online. There is so much visual information it seems they all mixed up in my headspace;
- I find myself reaching for my phone for no reason;
- The comparison game is strong, even though I fully understand what I see it is not most likely the reality.
Why did I come back?
- I want to stay connected and don’t want to miss out on what friends and family are doing and going through;
- I find it easier to stay in touch with new people I met via Instagram or Facebook;
- I do want to document and share things. Mostly learnings and processes along the way;
- It is a good way to share any artistic work I do.
There’s a book called Show Your Work (affiliate link) or in Portuguese, Mostre Seu Trabalho (affiliate link), by Austin Kleon, where he talks about documenting the process of anything you’re trying to make or achieve. He discusses the difficulties of self-promoting, but also its value.
My relationship with this means of communication has changed over the years and probably will continue to do so. I guess overall, an online social network is beneficial when used with real awareness and comprehension of what it really is. Also, having some sort of limitation in time usage has been helpful.
And you? Do find social media important? What for?
Let me know in the comments.
Your friend,
Ana.
Recent Comments