If you have been in the FFOREST for a while you know that I have slowly weaned myself off almost all social media. Those platforms get about 30 minutes of my time on the weekend and thatās it.
This summer Substack introduced their own social media feed called Notes. Notes is different, they said, Itās thoughtful and respectful and will help you find interesting things to read and listen to. Theyāre not lying. But as I used Notes it produced the same anxiety and anger in me as the other platforms.
I didnāt understand. Why is a feed that is definitely not a dumpster fire still messing with my emotions? (Update: I wrote this 2Ā½ years ago. Itās pretty dumpster firey now.)
Maybe I needed to do more letting go of the need for likes and applause? Yes. But also that didnāt feel like the reason. I kept thinking, and on Saturday I think I figured it out. The problem for me is that
all social platforms hijack the intention of my attention.
I am an easily-distracted person. In process of getting the above link to Notes I found myself scrolling down the page then clicking on a link to a post about why someone has changed their mind about Barak Obama. Thatās not what I wanted to think about. I havenāt read the post (yet). Still, while Iām typing this Iām thinking about some guyās opinion about an American ex-president. It could be an educated, intelligent opinion. Thatās not the point. The point is the thought is taking up space in my head without my permission. My intention is to write this post, then message my mum, then do BSL practice, then read a book about writing stories for a few minutes, then sleep. Instead, Iām thinking about why Obama is or is not a good guy, something that has nothing to do with living my life or accomplishing my goals. And social media does this over and over and over.
This is not healthy for me. I am distracted enough without an app yanking my attention in 27 directions that, while interesting, are not where Iām trying to go.
I want my attention to be intentional. And I want the intention to come from me.
āJeff
I was feelingā¦dance-y. This got me moving. And earwormed me at the same time.
All social media is mindless at this point. Getting sucked into reels, or TikToks, or scrolling through IG feeds. Before you know it, itās been an hour, and then youāre like āwell shit, Iāll never get that time backā.
Is there a place that scrolling doesnt become mindless? Is there a place that doesnt yank your thoughts down 50,836 train tracks at any given time? The answer is a resolute ānoā. Focus your intention somewhere worthy.
Grow slowly
Skyler