Welcome to a small series I’m going to call Tech Free Tuesday’s. I’ll suggest fun ways to unplug and spend more time off your phone and in the real world with the three dimensional folks. Let’s get started. P.S. I don’t have a cool picture for this post. Picture me having a breakdown and throwing things around and acting like King Kong. That’s the mental image I’m going for here.

I’m going to get on my soap box for a minute here. So strap in. I had an ugly journey with social media. I think I’ve been “addicted” to my phone/social media for over a decade now. I have a very all or nothing approach for some reason. I quit Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit cold turkey in January of 2024. I took about a month off and managed to rewire my brain to not desire a constant dopamine fix. I can’t stand those platforms now and go on them for maybe five minutes before I get pissed off and rid myself of the blasted apps for yet another 2-3 months. I now download them once a week to alert the local yokels in my life that I’ve made another post on this blog. Point being, I want to see things from my friends on those apps, their major life updates and fun photos etc. Instead, my feed is clogged up with ads, suggested pages, and rage bait content. Hard pass. I got rid of Tik Tok when it was banned for twelve whole seconds. I deleted it from my phone though and couldn’t have it back for about a month, unlike the cooler folks that left it on their devices. Redownloaded it when it reared its ugly head again in the app store several weeks later, and gave it up for the umpteenth time merely days later. I really got into some new hobbies and reading when I ditched the dreaded app. Don’t get me wrong, some of the content is incredible. I found hordes of tasty recipes. Great hobby inspiration. A fantastic community of military spouses that were more than happy to give support and advice when needed, and the always hilarious Brittany Broski. But I’ve kind of decided maybe social media is not something I want to be a big part of my life and I’d like to focus on unplugging for the long-term.

Here’s where we get into the more pointed part. When I was spending all of this time on social media, I was angry, sad, scared, and all the things. All. The. Time. I’d get sucked into all of the terrible things happening nationally and globally that I was powerless to stop. Reading awful comments with hateful rhetoric that I cannot fathom people actually buying into in this day and age. The idiotic talking points I would read. It was like a bad horror movie. I was miserable all the time and it wasn’t conducive to my mental health. What do we call this phenomenon? DOOM SCROLLING. *cartoon villain music*

Here’s what I noticed after I put down the phone and picked up a paintbrush. I was way more mellow. Content that is controversial, induces rage, fear, sadness, and other more intense emotions gets a lot more engagement. It sells well and gets more clicks. That’s why it’s pushed upon us so frequently. Did you know 90 percent of the news we see is owned by 6 companies? That’s right, only 6. Almost everything we see is completely curated, and the talking heads and their shareholders want nothing more than to drive up profits. Hence the crazy headlines, the us versus them mentality, and the everything is a major scandal or crisis. Big Tech platforms have openly admitted to doing the same for their algorithms. They’re designed to keep you scrolling and addicted. It’s not because we’re weak or have a lack of willpower. We’re just human. Hank Green made a fantastic video on Tik Tok a few weeks back noting that you’re not curating your algorithm, it’s curating you. You think you’re pushing your opinions onto it, but really it’s pushing what it wants you to think onto you. We can accidentally fall down rabbit holes and go into our own political echo chambers and so on. I wanted to see videos on bullet journaling, gardening, fun DIY projects, and all the adorable animal pictures there are on the internet. I didn’t get much of that. I got more extreme emotional content that I wasn’t really engaging with. And I am officially sick of it. So, where do we go from here? Do I do anything differently now or am I just more aware of the issue? It’s both.

I’m trying to limit my news consumption. It’s really important to stay informed! I’m not saying I bury my head in the sand. I just try to check the news at more specific times instead of scrolling for hours. I focus on the key events of the day instead of needing details on every single update of every hour. I shut off notifications so as to not be bombarded with every breaking news story. Most importantly, I try to use reputable sources that don’t use extreme headlines and create the us versus them mentality. There’s a super helpful media bias chart from Ad Fontes that gets updated yearly to let you know what publications are more in the middle and focused more on the facts instead of pushing a narrative. Also, now is a great time to support your local newspaper! Print media is not nearly as popular now than it used to be. Break out your reading glasses and read the paper like an old geezer. It’s good for you.

Next up, I spend more time trying out new hobbies and continuing my old hobbies. I love to read and have a very long list of books I am meant to finish sometime this year. Every time I’m tempted to scroll, I try to pick up my book instead and read for ten minutes. The urge almost always goes away. I take local art classes that I love and I am excited to spend more time outside now that it’s getting warmer! Seasonal depression is exiting through the gift shop finally, am I right? I’m being a lot more intentional with how I spend my free time.

Lastly, I’ve been trying to spend more time with actual people. I see friends more and I’m even looking to get a pen pal soon! I try to spend time with my family and friends phone free and take time every day and on the weekends that is phone free and absolutely my own. I still go on social media and watch funny videos and whatnot. The clock app is a hoot sometimes. I’m focusing on moderation at this point. I’m being mindful of what and how much/often I am consuming negative content. The world is far from a perfect place, but I can focus on what I can control and have a say in. I challenge you all to spend an hour or two this weekend away from your phone. Have a fun date with your friends or significant other! Try out a craft! People watch at Walmart! Just take a break and unglue your eyeballs from your device. Until next time, thanks for reading another post from the Mayor of Yap City.