experimenting with digital minimalism
OR, USING SOCIAL MEDIA WITHOUT LETTING IT USE ME.
or, trying to, anyway.
I found myself compulsively picking up my phone and checking social media throughout my day in a way that started to feel kind of gross.
I really don’t like to be on my phone that much and could feel the negative impact on my attention span and focus.
Also, the constant access to maddening news stories was impacting my mood for the worse.
In an effort to take my attention and focus back, l’ve been trying out the following things:
Deleting the apps from my phone and adding them back when I want to post something, check something out, or for occasional scrolling. For me that includes instagram, tiktok, substack, and reddit. I also sign out of the platforms on my web browser. Sometimes the sign-in page is enough for me to exit out of it before checking it again. I felt withdrawals for the first week or so of this (which I think is saying something).
Reminding myself that social media platforms are tools for me to use, not the other way around. The algorithm encourages frequent use, which serves their purposes, not mine. I felt weird about missing out on instagram stories at first. But maybe that’s part of their motivation for expiring stories? Getting people to check the app daily lest we miss out? Maybe. I keep my accounts because I like to be able to keep up with people and causes that I care about, but that doesn’t require daily use or story viewing.
Clarifying my intentions. I see my therapy accounts as something like a digital business card, a way for people to see what I'm about and get a feel for my personality. My personal accounts are something like a blog. I have a space here digitally to connect and share, but I don't measure my relationships or the impact of my work by social media engagement. I don't need to feed the algorithm.
Getting my news through radio shows, news articles, email newsletters, and podcasts. When I intentionally take in news information in contained formats, rather than being hit with a barrage of terrible things repeatedly and without warning every time I check my phone, it's easier to digest. The news doesn't hit any differently this way, but at least I have more control over my intake of it.
Making my life more interesting than my phone. Because that's the goal of it all, right? To be engaged with life, to take care of myself and my relationships, to maintain my overall health, to be an active participant in creating a life that I enjoy? For me, it is. And that can involve some occasional scrolling, but I don't want that scrolling to make up my day or negatively impact my mood and health.
I find that I feel best when I use social media in moderation.
I've been inspired to try these changes in part by Cal Newport's work on "digital minimalism." I listened to his podcast episode on 10% Happier with Dan Harris and found it ample, but he also wrote a book about it if you want more information.