Don’t be fooled by the bells and whistles of a busy job, stellar internship and booming social life. Even the most intelligent, genuinely interesting and multifaceted person could be a Facebook feed refresh-addict. One minute you’re on page seven of a grueling essay about the American Dream; the next, you find you’ve blacked out and managed to be scrolling through Facebook on both your phone AND computer screen. In addition to the utter confusion on how focus could escape you this abruptly, you want to Kylo Ren-style slash your computer screen because the American Dream is depression-inducing when modeled by the type of people who are overly-active on Facebook.
How often do things we see on Facebook absolutely change our lives for the better (unless you watched a couple Tasty videos- that I understand)? Truth be told, there are more reasons to celebrate what we do in our off-time than resent it. The things we do while distracted often supply the inspiration for our creative endeavors. Jessica Hirsche relieves our obligatory contempt toward distraction with the quote, “The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life.” This is a rather optimistic concept, isn't it? The spirit of our free time can take hold, navigate us to our heroes, favorite music and sometimes, destiny!
So why do we fill our slots of opportunity for reasonable amounts of distraction with the repetitive, useless and sometimes even mood-ruining garbage cycling through Facebook?
*Meditation instructor voice* I want to encourage you to let your answer come to you, naturally and honestly.
For me, the perpetual refresh comes from the simple fact that I am addicted to the gamble that something on the internet may improve my mood. From new music, to relatable humor -there just might be something worth the nagging feeling of having wasted my time.
There has to be a way to use the internet with more intention. It is true after all, that we are what we surround ourselves with. Given the reality that the internet largely connects us to what can help us grow intellectually, we should consider some simple options for reorganizing our media intake.
1.) If it consistently does not serve you, unfollow it.
This applies to clickbait twitter accounts, old friends that share gruesome videos and ex’s. If you don’t find pleasure in looking at it, get it away from your consciousness.
This is particularly important when it comes to those whose friends share opinions on world events. Becoming apathetic toward images and content you see on social media means deeply intentioned media will affects you less. Shock-based headlines keep people clicking and it’s alarmingly unhealthy for society on a large scale. There is a theory that as mass media is over-supplied through social opinion, people become apathetic to it and do not take action. This is called narcotizing dysfunction and I highly recommend reading into it.
2.) Put intention into your news intake.
It is constantly implied that keeping up with the news is essential to being an informed, intelligent and valuable citizen. If you absolutely need to follow world events, minimize your media intake into only a few sources you can check at a specific time of day. Make a meeting of it. Maybe call it “coffee time” or “Shit, I’m too early to this party” time. When Facebook is not your main supplier of news, troubling comments will be more out of sight and out of mind, helping you to have a more positive emotion toward being informed on the realities of our world. I’m not suggesting that you commit to only multi-billion dollar news networks. Explore blogs, podcasts and different websites. You’d be amazed how many journalism entities there are.
3.) Comedy and Tiny Desk Concerts
Comedy is serious business. If you haven’t browsed through the stand-up selection on Netflix, I highly recommend it. Big names in comedy today tend to have multiple platforms of their work. Chelsea Peretti has recently become a huge source of media intake for me, since she has a podcast in addition to her hilarious special “One of the Greats.” Whatever optimizes the fun of your downtime, follow it. Download that guided meditation. Follow that Vine account, watch that Youtube series, and like that page on Facebook that supplies endless humorous skits. NPR has their Tiny Desk Concerts where you catch watch intimate performances recorded at the desk of host Bob Boilen. Call it self-love. You owe it to yourself to enjoy the perks of the World Wide Web.
Speaking of "owing" things...
4.) Stop feeling as though you owe anyone media connectedness.
If you were to build an online community that brings you joy, motivation and intrigue, would it REALLY be composed of pictures of your acquaintance's ninth selfie this week? Don’t feel bad about disconnecting with people who haven’t done you any specific harm. This isn’t 2006 when we were so jazzed about Myspace that we added our friend’s friend that we met at a birthday party eight months ago. You are allowed to be disconnected from someone’s media while still remaining humbly supportive of their future offline. In fact, chances are, this will keep your relationships with these people more open-hearted and judgement free. Instead of scrolling relentlessly through repetitive useless information and images, make it a point to see content on online communities that relate to your passions, career or favorite artists.
5.) The obvious
Unplug from the digital world fearlessly, and often.
Next time you see a movie at the theater, notice the immediate beams of light coming from small screens the second credits begin to roll. There is so much anxiety wrapped around our social media. Be the person capable of forgetting it exists for a little while.
PS.
Can we start a movement where we all vow to stop recording concert performances on our iPhones? Unless you're a hired journalist or photographer, I can't imagine why you'd want to cheapen such an expensive special experience.
