Just finished my first day of not having any social media apps on my phone and ... man. Should have done this sooner!
First, made me realize how mindlessly I apparently opened it during the day. Kept going to it and ... it wasn't there.
Def addictive behavior that I (YMMV) had to solve directly.
And second, was still able to stay aware of the various bad things that were going on, but in what was--again, for me, just being descriptive for me, not prescriptive for others, YMMV--a far mentally healthier way.
More "I see this happened," less "I'm going to obsess over news I can't control."
Just saying that, personally, I was surprised at how almost ... liberating ... it was to not have it on my phone.
And how I felt like I was more present in general once I physically made it impossible to hop on it.
Maybe someday I'll put it back on. But ... honestly? Maybe not.
When Elon cut off third party Twitter apps and I couldn’t use Tweetbot any longer, I stopped using microblogging platforms. And it was good for me. Trying to have a better relationship with this site, but I dunno. I certainly don’t feel _better_ after scrolling here.
Yeah, I think social media in general--I think inescapably--is a mood amplifier, bc it's everyone commenting all on the same thing all at once.
So if it's something good or funny, it's great, but when things are not-so-good, it's just a firehouse of stress.
I think this is esp bad when it comes to Political Social Media, bc the stakes are higher, and the things that people are talking about are mostly outside of the control of even the non-average person.
Like, even w my job, there's not much I can do, esp right now, to fix the new Chevron mess.
Yeah, that's what I'm struggling with. I was so angry scrolling today after the Chevron decision, a thing I have I have utterly no control over. I read angry take after angry take, feeling validated but also even more out of sorts, and I had real work to do. Maybe bsky shouldn't be on my phone.
