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Over that last couple of years I've gone more and more offline. And by offline, I mean I'm growing more disconnected from internet culture. It's been a big change, and definitely for the better.
For most of my 20's I was one of the more 'online' people in my circle. I knew what the latest memes were, what was trending on Reddit and Twitter, and was just glued to social media feeds all day.
However, the thing that I was most aware of on any given day, and the thing that ultimately pushed me to disconnecting, was what the internet was mad about at that time. And not just what they were mad about, but what every influencer, celebrity, and viral tweet had to say about said thing.
It all came to a head during the pandemic. I was having a tough time dealing with the quarantining and other life things that were dramatically interrupted and permanently affected by the state of the world. Through all that, I became acutely aware of the excess negative energy I was absorbing through my internet consumption. My anxiety was amplified to the most it ever was. It was like pouring water into a glass already filled to the brim.
Disconnecting played a huge role in working my way out of that spiral. I deleted Snapchat, Instagram, my Reddit accounts, and Twitter. For a while I had a Mastodon account but I stopped using that as well. Having deleted Facebook years before all this, my social media presence went down to near zero.
The biggest adjustment I had to make was having to completely change the way I receive the news. I used to rely on Twitter and Reddit, and I refuse to watch the news on TV, so I had to go back to basics.
This might sound insane to many of you on here, buy I actually had to learn about RSS feeds and how to use them to get stories. I quickly found feeds for my sports, local, national, and international news, along with blogs and other publications.
The biggest difference I found between getting my news from Twitter versus from the source itself was that once I read the article, I was done with it. I wasn't inundated with every random person's hot take on that piece of news or scroll endlessly through every dissection by someone with way too much time on their hands. I read the news, absorbed the information, and that was it. And if I wanted more info, I would go and look for it.
Separating from the 'takes' is an absolute game-changer. I didn't realize how much of what I was actually reading was just opinions as opposed to the actual story.
There was a moment during my 'disconnection' where everything clicked for me. I swear to god I sat there, by myself, laughing hysterically at my stupid revelation, and I call this the 'Chrissy Teigen Moment'.
For those of you who don't know, Chrissy Teigen is a formal model turned chef turned social media influencer. She's married to the famous musician John Legend, and she's very active on the socials, specifically Twitter and Instagram.
When I had Instagram and Twitter, I read or saw something of hers every day, like literally every day. Either she was selling something or posting about her kids on Instagram, or replying to some stupid thing Donald Trump was doing that week. She was on my mind every day and I never realized.
When I was disconnecting, the first two apps to go were Instagram and Twitter. I was simultaneously building my list of RSS feeds and getting used to not reflexively taking my phone out of my pocket and opening those apps.
I was a few months into the process and the app opening reflexes were nearly gone and I was sitting on the couch scrolling through my news feed. Suddenly, I saw a name I hadn't seen or heard in months: Chrissy Teigen.
I literally sat and stared at my screen when I realized I hadn't thought about his random celebrity in months, when in the past I knew what she was having for breakfast everyday! And there she was, in the news for something that I couldn't care less about.
That moment when I realized that there was someone or something occupying a whole part of my mind every day without me even knowing will forever be called the 'Chrissy Teigen Moment' for me.
Anyway, I just felt like sharing this small journey in a vast collection of journeys I've taken and have yet to take in my life.
And if you ever had a 'Chrissy Teigen Moment' I'd love to hear it!