Minimalism for the mind
Ahh! It’s so pissing off to go through social media these days. Imagine you were only consuming the content that you wanted — just art or humor, in most of our cases — how much simpler would life be? No birthday wishes, no stories on parties, no years-old memes, no BS.
Those DMs of apparently funny memes that you can’t even opt out of because that’s a tradition now. So much of it is just biased opinion on everything — so is our entire life — but we have a choice here.
Disable/temporarily uninstall apps
There are apps that you need to put out your work on, because you don’t own a public gallery (yet). Instagram is mine. This is one such app that keeps me going. I take photos when I can and make posts on a semi regular basis — sometimes once a week, sometimes everyday. And when I think I’m wasting too much time on it or when it’s overwhelming, since I’m easily influenced, I uninstall the app.
My login is saved on Google lock and thanks to super fast internet, installing the app doesn’t take more than a few seconds when I do need it. So ideally, I install the app in the morning, make a post and uninstall it.
But what happens when I’m looking forward to your texts? Do I just not care about it? Because there’s always that feeling of something might knock the door and I won’t be there to answer.
Permanently uninstall apps
These are those sites that you might’ve joined because of the lockdown or because your crush was on it. Twitter, Snapchat and the sorts. A few weeks in, Twitter turned out to be super toxic. It might have just been the content I followed, but I dunno. Why? Everyone has a problem with anything anyone does.
On the other side, what are we even doing on Snapchat? Half attentively looking at photos that disappear after seconds because they’re not important after that. I happen to have friends that send me empty photos just to keep their score up! Why the hell?
Drop it in the bin. You can access Twitter on their website. Snapchat you’ll have to install if you need it.
Turning off notifications
There’s also those apps you actually need for survival, if you wanna call it that. WhatsApp texts from siblings and close friends or maybe even colleagues. Uninstalling the app won’t be an option in such cases. So turn off the notification sounds, if not the notifications themselves. Set a time for when you want to read messages or e-mails. Tell your important contacts to call on your cell in an emergency instead.
Controlling your thoughts
These days, if we’re not pointlessly consuming media, what are we doing? Photographers don’t get to go out and extroverts don’t get to party. Everyone lives so far away and everything is demotivational. And this continuous supply of crap from the internet doesn’t leave our minds at peace. So, it’s important to give yourself some time.
Unless it’s a life or death situation, maybe take some time off. Meditate, take a walk, watch the sunset or try something new that will keep your mind calm. I’ve spent countless hours this year watching the sunset. And it helps!
The last time I spent time without social media was when I took time off for placement preparations and those were probably the best four months of my life (social media wise). I’d rarely text some friends on WhatsApp and would spend all of my time on YouTube — watching videos on studies, interview prep, gameplay walkthroughs and what-not. But, it was good. Also, I did barely any photography in that time. That worked out to be some sort of a reset.
It’s pretty important right, to take a break?
Until next time.
