Social fast
This week I did a social media fast. I felt more relaxed, more focused . . . yada yada yada. We all know how the rest of this Public Service Announcement goes.
Weekly Three
HEAR: “Little Window” by Ducktails
READ: The beautiful little story, “What’s the Deal, Hummingbird?” by Arthur Krystal, stirred up a moment of epiphany that hit me like a ton of bricks, just like a short story should.
VIEW: The swirling, shapeshifting patterns of wild birds captured by Bay Area photographer Doris Mitsch. I think she’s tapped into something hinting at God here.
No. 61: Social fast
This week I committed myself to a social media fast. The results were pleasant. I felt more relaxed, more focused . . . yada yada yada. We all know how the rest of this goes.
We’re familiar with anti-social media PSAs: Social media is the end of face-to-face interaction and the primary agent causing the deterioration human connection, empathy, and solidarity. Yes, Netflix documentary. Yes, New York Times article. Yes, grandpa. We know, we know. But, hold on, I just need to check this one last Instagram notification.
The usual argument is as follows: Stop using social media and look up. Talk to the person beside you. Go for a walk. Make a new friend. In short, stop using social media and you’ll stop using your phone. Then, somehow, you’ll lead a better life.
Here’s my take: yes, we should look up, talk to the person beside us, go for a walk, make a new friend. But we can also keep using our phones. I know we sometimes forget this (hi, Millennials and Gen Z), but phones can do more than open social media apps.
I remember my first phone and my first years of phone ownership. This was before social media apps. I still used the hell out of my not-so-smart device, but for different reasons. I rediscovered those reasons during this week’s social media fast.
What I found? When unable to plunge hours of time into pointlessly scrolling through generic content, I spent more time . . .
Calling friends I hadn’t talked to for a while
Having long, drawn-out text message conversations with family and friends
Researching or reading articles online
Looking back through old photos
Not using my phone
The texting thing was a big one.
People around my age (27) will remember what it was like to own a phone during their middle school and early high school years. These phones were used for two things. Texting friends and family, and downloading and listening to music.
How pure!?
And it was fun, too. Each day you might carry out three or four in-depth text conversations continued from the previous day and that would keep ping-ponging along for weeks. There was a constant dialogue, whether it was gossip or jokes or meandering chatter. A text message took some time, effort, and focus to compose. It was rarely just an “ok” “sup” or “yea” (and it certainly wasn’t a little thumbs-up *like* in place of a response, since those didn’t exist). You might have a very serious conversation with someone, one that you could never imagine having in-person — but still, you had it.
With social media, I now notice, much of that is gone. Text messages are quick interchanges unless your interlocutor is your special other. It’s as if we only have time to carry out a quick question-answer conversation, not because we have something important to do, but because our social media platform is beckoning us. Come, child, come back! A more substantial release of dopamine awaits you!
Take all this for what you will, but I think it’s valuable to consider the idea that reducing your time on social media doesn’t necessarily mean reducing your time using a device — a major dealbreaker for most. There are meaningful things that can be done with a cell phone, and much of that meaning lies in their ability to effectively keep in touch with loved ones — your family, your friends, your neighbors, your community, etc.
We are within arms reach of communicating with each other. Why does it feel like it’s been so long? ♦
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