Smaller Worlds

“We need Storytelling. Otherwise, life just goes on and on like the number Pi.”

Ang Lee

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

I spent the month of December off social media. That's nothing, really.

However, it did teach me some things. I've never taken a conscious break from social media before because I've just never felt like I've needed to. When people talk about the stress of social media and how it makes them feel depressed or oppressed, I don't relate to social media that way. I use social media to open my world up and for self expression. For me, it's been overall a mostly positive relationship, and I also have access to so many people who inspire me and make me feel less alone in the world.

Since I had never taken a break, I wanted to see what it would be like. I also thought hey, I could use the time I spend on here to learn more Spanish on Duolingo. That was really successful, and I now have a much better habit in how much time I spend learning a language. Another positive outcome that I didn't foresee was reinvesting time into this website. I'm really proud of what I've been able to put together in the last month of just following my intuition.

During that time, my world did feel a bit smaller. I think that's nice and another tool in the toolkit. When things feel chaotic and the world feels too big, I think taking a break from social media would be a great tool to use to refocus and ground for some people. I actually think that social media is grounding for me because I tend to get lost in my own world, and social media helps me to balance that out. I really enjoy the community it presents and seeing what people I care about are doing and feeling.

When I decided to do this, I deleted the apps from my phone and signed out on my computer. I deleted the apps because I thought I might mindlessly sign on one day, and I'm pretty sure that would've happened over the first few days. I remember unconsciously trying to click where I have my social media apps on my phone and being like, 'oh, that's not there.' Then I became conscious of what I was doing and redirected my attention. It's helped me to become a bit more aware of how I use my phone.

The strangest part was really the weight I felt of signing back onto social media. After a week into it, I started feeling like I never had social media to begin with. Maybe that's because of how I experience time, I'm not sure if most people would feel that way. It also made it easy to not have social media. I signed on a few days after I initially planned because I took some time to think about whether I really even wanted to sign back on at all. I ultimately decided I did because of the community aspect and how it brings more balance to my life. I need my world to be bigger, and I need my views, beliefs, and feelings to constantly be challenged- that brings me balance. It brings me peace to see the world as objectively as I can.

I believe our non-physical connections to one another is a really positive thing if used authentically. The short amount of time I took to myself made me appreciate that we can all keep in touch with each others' lives and with vastly different realities and perspectives. We can do that through a variety of means, but social media is unique in that we see that vastness of others' experience and perspectives in real time. There, we have a window into the collective conscious and unconscious.

Semper ad astra, mi chicos!