Keeping up with strangers

Social media makes it really easy to keep up with everything going on in the world around us. From crises happening across the globe to personal details about people we’ve never met.

And on an average day for many, I don’t think I’d be wrong in assuming that little thought goes into it.

How often do you find yourself questioning whether you need to know all this information you’re consuming?

I’m guilty of clicking on trending topics out of curiosity but on reflection I know that this information isn’t something I need to know.

The goings on of celebrities (and even just people we’ve never met) has always been a popular form of entertainment which is why gossip magazines were so popular. I guess those magazines have now changed to social media, something that is free and consumed by even more people.

And as much as you control who you follow, you can’t control what they post, tweet, re-tweet, like or share on their stories.

But what you do have control over is your active consumption. As much as knowing certain things might tickle your fancy, upon reflection would you really choose knowing details about a strangers personal life over reading a book, working on your craft, writing, planning ahead etc.

Of course you can make time for both (if you so wish) but this is more about being intentional with what you consume rather than getting swept up in it all.

If you leave the twitter thread, video or post feeling fine that’s great but if you feel like you’ve wasted time then maybe you need to start making some changes.

How it feels to be moved

he things you can connect to and resonate with, the things that move you, fill your life with more of that.

I find myself energised, motivated and inspired by certain things. Whereas other things perhaps annoy me or bring out my low mood.

It doesn’t help to consume things that leave you feeling blue. It’s not the kindest way to treat yourself which is why it’s important to remind yourself that you have options.

Social media is a place full of content that can move you, if you let it. It’s great when you’re being moved by something that inspires you or makes you take action on the things you’ve been working on or if it teaches you something new.

On the other hand, if you’re being moved to publish a thread of angry tweets on something you don’t really know about that you’ll regret posting in a week or 2 then maybe think twice about what you choose to follow.

But also think about the ways you’re allowing yourself to be moved. It can be a beautiful thing.

I listened to a podcast recently that moved me to write something and from that I started planning for a future project.

I was moved to create which is something I enjoy and that’s what is important.

The things that move us can have the power to influence us into doing or feeling things we don’t enjoy and a lot of people aren’t even aware.

I think that’s pretty interesting.

Easier done than said

Over the past month or so I’ve been thinking about how much time I spend on social media in comparison to how much I get out of it.

The end result was logging out of twitter and a week or so later I deleted the app from my phone. The only time I use it now is on my laptop at home a couple times a week and even then it’s only for about 10 minutes and I’m not mindlessly scrolling.

I’ve taken twitter breaks before but I got into the habit of using it so much and constantly checking it that I thought deleting the app would be really difficult.

I made a conscious effort to replace Twitter with something else which is really important when it comes to changing a habit. Shout out to the habit loop which I first learnt about when I read The power of habit by Charles Duhigg.

I’ve replaced twitter with writing which has been easy as cherry pie and has been incredibly helpful now that I’m a daily blogger.

I really thought it would be a challenging but it turns out deleting the twitter app was easier done than said.