41 - Conscious consumption of the things
Because it's not "just" social media
I’ve recently been dipping my toes back in the dating pool and … let’s just say it’s not going great.
Anyway, I’d been chatting with this guy for a few days and one day he asked about my opinion on the “Russia situation” and I responded as follows:
I don’t listen to the news so I have no opinions about the Russia situation. I try not to burden myself with things that don’t affect my immediate reality. I moved house recently and I’m still unpacking and buying furniture so right now I’m more concerned about how much I have had to spend in the past few weeks.
I haven’t heard from him since.
I’ve never been one to pay too much attention to the news, however, a few years ago I made the decision to actively avoid all news outlets as much as possible. I just didn’t see any benefit in constantly exposing myself to all the bad news constantly repeated in every news cycle, especially considering that I couldn’t do anything to change any of it.
As much as I manage to avoid the news, I also happen to be an avid user of social media. By that I mean that I have three twitter accounts and four instagram accounts, so I am a hypocrite still quite exposed.
Lately I’ve been thinking more and more about the effects of this type of exposure. Social media has given us front row seats to each other’s lives as well as the lives of total strangers from all over the world. As we scroll through our devices daily, we are consuming more information than we realise, want to or even need.
While it might be fun to keep up with your friends, there’s also the tiny details of the lives of total strangers that you’re now privy to simply because you follow them, or someone you follow has retweeted them. So now you’re going to sleep and dreaming about your fellow human being who is unaware of your existence.
Another worrisome effect of this exposure is the groupthink effect, because it is more difficult to have an original opinion when you’ve been over-exposed to the opinions of others. Others who don’t even have to be right or share knowledgable opinions but have popularity on their side and get thousands of retweets and have now become professors on the timeline. And you want to align yourself with the cool kids so you abandon your own thought process and parrot the popular opinion.
There’s also a high chance of increased dissatisfaction with your life when you’re constantly exposed to people who appear to be doing better than you in every aspect of their lives.
Let’s not forget the triggering conversations. I can’t count how many times my mood has tanked simply because I opened twitter to read yet another story about another woman who has suffered sexual violence and maybe even died as a result.
It’s not all bad of course. Exposing myself so much has gained me valued friendships and interactions. I even learn some things from the debates that cross my timeline daily, but there’s also so much unnecessary drivel that I’m having to become even more conscious of my level of exposure.
Some of the things I do to control my consumption include carefully curating my timeline to the best of my ability. I refuse to follow people who post things I’m not interested in, no matter how seemingly harmless. I also don’t follow people simply because they follow me. Instead I follow mostly people I know or people who post about things that interest me. And if I happen to know you but you happen to do things like say repost instablog stories then I also can’t have you on my timeline.
I also try to reduce the amount of time I spend online. One of the ways I try to do this is by increasing the effort required to access my social media apps. Last year I removed the instagram icon from my home page and that cut down my Instagram use drastically. The original plan was to delete the app from my phone completely, but my vanity would not permit.
I deleted my twitter app years ago but now I have Tweetdeck open on my computer so that is neither here nor there.
I also have notifications turned off for all apps on my phone, with the exception of Whatsapp and my banking apps.
As you can probably tell, I love my social media apps and have no intentions of abandoning them anytime soon, but as with all things, awareness is key. You might think it’s just twitter or it’s just instagram, but it is exposure and it is consumption and if we are the things we consume then maybe it’s not “just” twitter/instagram/facebook/snapchat/tik tok/whatevernewonetheycomeupwith.
Finally, I’m of the opinion that humans were not designed for this level of exposure. I honestly do not think it is healthy to be constantly bombarded with bad news from around the world while dealing with the troubles in your own world. But that’s just my own personal opinion.
This week I am reading
Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change and Thrive in Work and Life by Susan David. I came across Susan thanks to a podcast episode with Brene Brown and I was intrigued by the concept of emotional agility. To be honest, I don’t think this needed more than five chapters as the gist is quite basic, but still a good read.
I had a major holiday planned but things fell through last minute and now I am visiting family in the U.S instead. Feels good to be back stateside after THREE whole years. Looking forward to a week of sunshine and spending time with my loves.
Here’s wishing you a week of controlled consumption.
Chioma.
I agree 100%. It’s important to limit exposure especially if you suffer from anxiety or any other mental health issues.