I really like your viewpoints on this issue, and hope to be doing similar stuff as you are doing right now by the end of the year.
I think, as a Gen Z-er, I sometimes get this feeling of, "If I'm not on top of the latest drama, trend, etc, I won't ever be able to connect to anyone." Of course, there are many things to talk about that's not online junk, and in actuality my extensive internet knowledge has never made me any friends IRL. But, when you see so much about the latest trend, you can think, "How will I talk to people if I know nothing about this thing everyone is apparently doing? Will I look like an idiot not knowing it?"
Perhaps that can kinda be connected with FOMO, just in a different way than explained.
Thank you! I agree with you. And one thing that makes it worse is that in some settings there can be value in knowing some of the latest trend/news/ or meme.
The distortion happens when we believe we must know everything that’s happening, which is (1) impossible and (2) not a good way to spend our time. Accepting that it’s not worth it is crucial, I think.
Thank you for this. It really helps me to show people who ask why I don't have Instagram and some other social media. I'll show this post that explains perfectly the problem our society is living with.
This is a great post! A lot of these distortions are things I feel like I've been able to "conquer" and move past on my journey to be more mindful about the media I consume.
The last true social media platform I cannot get away from is YouTube. I have so many books I'd like to read, yet I still choose to spend a large portion of my days scrolling through YT, even sometimes to the point where I procrastinate school work. Personally, I noticed that it stems from this idea that there will be some super useful information that will help me be more mindful in my life or just the craving to learn something new about, and other times I just want to watch something super dumb.
I'm not terribly sure how to proceed from here since I know that without YouTube I couldn't have learned as much as I have, yet I also know that I do spend the majority of my time on YT watching fairly mindless content when I'm bored instead of picking up a light fantasy novel or book of short stories to read.
I'm so glad others are taking things like this serious as it feels like a epidemic at this point and its already taken me so long to get to the point where I don't use platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc on the daily to fill a huge chunk of my time.
Thank you for the compliment and for sharing your experience, I loved reading your comment. For me, a big step was understanding that most of the time that I online-hunt for information, I already know the answer and I should just execute it. To quote Derek Sivers: "If more information was the answer, then we'd all be billionaires with perfect abs".
I also use the browser extension Distraction Free Youtube, and don't have the app on my phone.
It is often the case that the websites that are genuinely useful to some degree are the hardest to get a healthy relationship with. Maybe you could do a cost-benefit analysis of YouTube: you might figure out that it was valuable in the past, but the more knowledgeable you get the fewer valuable information you receive. It is often the case that there are diminishing returns.
Best of luck in your journey! If you wish to share more in the future, please do. I'd love to read about your progress and discoveries.
I really like your viewpoints on this issue, and hope to be doing similar stuff as you are doing right now by the end of the year.
I think, as a Gen Z-er, I sometimes get this feeling of, "If I'm not on top of the latest drama, trend, etc, I won't ever be able to connect to anyone." Of course, there are many things to talk about that's not online junk, and in actuality my extensive internet knowledge has never made me any friends IRL. But, when you see so much about the latest trend, you can think, "How will I talk to people if I know nothing about this thing everyone is apparently doing? Will I look like an idiot not knowing it?"
Perhaps that can kinda be connected with FOMO, just in a different way than explained.
Thank you! I agree with you. And one thing that makes it worse is that in some settings there can be value in knowing some of the latest trend/news/ or meme.
The distortion happens when we believe we must know everything that’s happening, which is (1) impossible and (2) not a good way to spend our time. Accepting that it’s not worth it is crucial, I think.
Thank you for this. It really helps me to show people who ask why I don't have Instagram and some other social media. I'll show this post that explains perfectly the problem our society is living with.
This is a great post! A lot of these distortions are things I feel like I've been able to "conquer" and move past on my journey to be more mindful about the media I consume.
The last true social media platform I cannot get away from is YouTube. I have so many books I'd like to read, yet I still choose to spend a large portion of my days scrolling through YT, even sometimes to the point where I procrastinate school work. Personally, I noticed that it stems from this idea that there will be some super useful information that will help me be more mindful in my life or just the craving to learn something new about, and other times I just want to watch something super dumb.
I'm not terribly sure how to proceed from here since I know that without YouTube I couldn't have learned as much as I have, yet I also know that I do spend the majority of my time on YT watching fairly mindless content when I'm bored instead of picking up a light fantasy novel or book of short stories to read.
I'm so glad others are taking things like this serious as it feels like a epidemic at this point and its already taken me so long to get to the point where I don't use platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc on the daily to fill a huge chunk of my time.
Thank you for the compliment and for sharing your experience, I loved reading your comment. For me, a big step was understanding that most of the time that I online-hunt for information, I already know the answer and I should just execute it. To quote Derek Sivers: "If more information was the answer, then we'd all be billionaires with perfect abs".
I also use the browser extension Distraction Free Youtube, and don't have the app on my phone.
It is often the case that the websites that are genuinely useful to some degree are the hardest to get a healthy relationship with. Maybe you could do a cost-benefit analysis of YouTube: you might figure out that it was valuable in the past, but the more knowledgeable you get the fewer valuable information you receive. It is often the case that there are diminishing returns.
Best of luck in your journey! If you wish to share more in the future, please do. I'd love to read about your progress and discoveries.
Antonio