Day 10: Free Yourself from One Social Media Account or News App
“Nothing, to my way of thinking,” Seneca said, “is better proof of a well-ordered mind than a man’s ability to stop just where he is and pass some time in his own company.” Would you pass that test? Can you actually be alone with your own thoughts? Can you experience your own life? Or are you too addicted to the chatter and the scrolling? – (Daily Stoic, New Year, New You Challenge Day 10 Email)
I had expected this challenge to appear as part of the twenty-one days! As I’ve learned more about Stoicism along this journey, it’s become clear that mental clarity is the foundation for living a life of purpose and virtue. It’s also clear that it’s much easier to eschew from the act of critical thinking than to allow for continuous distraction. Without consciously creating how we want to use social media or our phones to improve our lives, we have no choice but to let it run our lives for us. It is designed to distract and addict. It is designed to create envy and accentuate the negative.
The news, as the Daily Stoic points out, is now just a branch of social media, as it runs on the same dynamic – stoke emotions; get eyeballs; get paid. Social media – without careful cultivation of how it is used – is not net-neutral. What I mean is that the funny memes you might see to brighten your day do not counteract the constant scream of rude comments, activist agendas, doctored photos, and petty squabbles that surround most online content. Without a strategy for how we will engage with social media, we slowly sap our mental fortitude and move further from a designed life to a manipulated one.
We can use social media to augment our lives, provided we’ve thought through our values and set-up these tools to support those values accordingly. For example, I want to live a more healthy lifestyle at the moment, so I follow Whole30Recipes on Instagram. I’m supporting my goal of eating better by exposing myself to creative and tasty recipes. I also want to build my own business, so I follow other very successful women who’ve traveled down that path. I value their guidance and tips. I don’t have Facebook or Twitter on my phone. I check Facebook once a week. I use Twitter to share these posts. I do have Instagram on my phone and check it 5-6 times per day. I have been checking the Daily Stoic slack group in the evenings to receive inspiration from others on this journey 😉.
The one thing I want to commit to as part of this challenge is to replace the podcasts in my life that tend to stoke my fears with ones that inspire my heart. For example, I will stop listening to Andrew Klavan (as much as I love his opening satire) on my evening commute and start listening to Don’t Keep Your Day Job and Teal Swan. This would be a step toward my expansion.
I will share more of my thoughts on this subject in a future post.