So although I’ve never signed up for any of her classes, I’ve always been a lover of Leonie Dawson’s newsletter. Earlier this year she did a 21 day challenge, where she stopped using social media.
She also did another one where she did no internet shopping. I’m not ready to do that yet and it’s not because of the pandemic. I’ve been using InstaCart and Amazon for all of my personal shopping needs outside of shoes and prescriptions for the last three years and I enjoy it. I joke about it but I’m not someone who actually buys a lot of frivolous stuff online. I’m more likely to overspend in person because I’m a tactile individual. If I can touch it and hold it, then it’s probably coming home with me. Online shopping keeps me from overspending, believe it or not.
But social media, yeah. Earlier this month, as part of my Healing Thru Tarot Challenge, one of the daily questions brought up my spread thinness and befrazzlement with social media. Like magic, I found an email from Leonie in my inbox that I had missed, where she talked about all the positive changes to her inner state when she put down social media. So I thought, “Why not?” and resolved to try this as soon as I’m done this challenge.
I’m really enjoying this Tarot challenge. Some of its royally pissed me off but overall I’ve enjoyed it. If Heather does it next year, I’ll sign up again to see what comes frothing up to the surface.
At the same time I’ve also done Blog Along With Effy and met a whole community of art bloggers. I feel like I turned a corner and found a secret micro neighbourhood that I never knew existed, within my larger neighbourhood. I forgot how much I enjoyed blogging and connecting with others this way. It’s on a much smaller scale than social media but infinitely much more fulfilling. Social media fractures my online soul and blogging restores it.
So the boundaries I’m setting for myself are, starting May 1st, no:
- Tiktok
- Tumblr
Some of that, like Facebook and Instagram will be difficult, I believe. I’m not really a content creator on the other platforms, I have accounts to look at others that I follow. I know right now that I’m really going to miss #NativeTikTok. That one little hashtag has been a priceless resource for me in reconnecting to my Mi’kmaq ancestry.
I’m allowing myself:
- Patreon – I don’t consider it social media although some do. I follow Lisa Clough from Lachri Fine Arts
- YouTube – I also don’t consider this social media but I guess if you actually interact and become part of the community there, then it is social media. I follow different artists there for their tutorials and I’m thinking of starting my own channel to go with the reboot of my crochet site. This means going to YouTube but it’s never been a rabbit hole for me.
- Facebook Messenger – This is how my wife and I keep in contact because her work takes her away from home. We video chat every night. It’s also how I keep in weekly contact with my son and other family in Canada.
- MeWe – I was going to put it on the diet but I only go there once a month already so that’s like getting a trophy for showing up.
I’m revising my stance on this. Not using Instagram will be HELL. Ye gods, that’s my rabbit hole of choice! Sometimes I wonder if this will be the right time to do this because I do want to start selling patterns again as a form of passive income this May. I start getting stuck in my head over this. Then I remember that the last time I did this, Facebook was new and most people weren’t on it. None of the other stuff existed and yet somehow I managed to be found without Facebook or even Ravelry. My blog became busy and I made money.
We’ll see. We’ll see if I can stick to my diet lol.
Comments