I hate the internet sometimes. I hate social media, and the way it has invaded every facet of our daily lives. Yet I can’t seem to drag myself away from it. I am hooked on this online world; crave it like an addict, turn to it in times of boredom. I waste hours in my life away all for the sake of…what, really? Who actually cares what I Facebook like or Instagram upload or YouTube comment. None of it is real; none of it means anything.
And oh, the irony of blogging about this on an online forum.
The thing that scares me the most is the fact that our preoccupation with the online world has quickly become the norm. We check our phones when we’re commuting, when we’re eating, when we’re in bed, when we’re watching television, and maybe even while we’re standing face to face with another human being. What message are we sending to the other person? Are they not important enough to grant our full attention?
I worry about what it means for us socially. I can see the beginning of an unravelling of our innate social natures, morphing into something that disturbs me. Our screen time is replacing real interaction with each other.
So I’m trying a wee experiment. I’m downgrading my phone for 30 days: saying goodbye to my iPhone 6, and hello to this sexy beast, a Telecom Huawei HB5A2.I’m transferring my current number across, and my goal is to leave my iPhone alone the entire 30 days, all the while documenting what it feels like to go smartphone free after four years of Apple phones.
Overall, I hope to spend far less time online, and more in the real world, doing real things with real people.
bohemianhumanist.com 