Rowen (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tuesday_morning) wrote2023-08-11 05:31 pm
tuesday_morning) wrote2023-08-11 05:31 pm
Hard Reset
Do you ever get the feeling that something is horribly off in your life? For me, I get that feeling a lot, and I'd like to share a little bit about why I feel that way.
Long story short, I have an addiction to social media. Dreamwidth is an exception since I'm using it more as an online journal, but other social media platforms are addictive to me. And not only am I addicted to social media, but I'm addicted to music too. That might sound pretty weird to you, but it's the truth. I have an addiction to both social media and music of all kinds.
Today, I tried to cut myself off from using my phone excessively, and I was having some behavioral and mental withdrawal symptoms. I kept picking up my phone out of habit, even when I knew that I had locked my phone from accessing apps for a few hours. And as for the music, I haven't listened to much music at all today, and that's been really bothering me. To be honest, I don't even have any music that I feel interested in listening to right now. I haven't heard any new or good music in over a month, but every day (excluding today), I compulsively plug my ears with music. I despise that I do that because it distracts me and blocks me from being alone with my thoughts so I can think about things that actually matter; things that are real and impactful.
I've come up with a personalized battle plan to try and curb my addictive behaviors, but it's not going to be an easy road to kick my social media and music addictions. I've tried to do this before multiple times, and after a few days things get better, but eventually I fall back into those same traps all over again. To err is human, though, so I have to keep fighting even when I slip up. But even with that in mind, I want to try my hardest to make this a long-term practice of refraining from social media and excessive music.
I'm challenging myself to try and refrain from excessive social media and music for a period of 30 days, starting with today. With my free time, I want to engage in activities that are enjoyable and constructive. I want to improve my art style, potentially draw some educational comics to share with others (complete with citations), continue studying the skills I'll need for my new job, practicing my crocheting with a manageable project, going for walks around my neighborhood in the mornings or as the sun is setting, associating with friends offline to the best of my ability, and so much more.
To help me with the challenge I'm doing, I'm using index cards. At the top of the index card, I write tomorrow's date (because I usually fill them out before bed), and below that I write at least one main objective for the day. From there, I write tasks to accomplish throughout the day (errands, work, appointments, etc.) as well as additional tasks that can help me to reach the day's objective. Having a list of ideas of things to do during my day, as well as a daily goal makes things feel a little less like I'm doing absolutely nothing.
Hopefully this challenge will also result in an uptick of deeper thinking. I love to think about things that feel like they give me a sense of real purpose. It exercises my brain to do that.
Thank you for listening. Have a great weekend everyone!
Long story short, I have an addiction to social media. Dreamwidth is an exception since I'm using it more as an online journal, but other social media platforms are addictive to me. And not only am I addicted to social media, but I'm addicted to music too. That might sound pretty weird to you, but it's the truth. I have an addiction to both social media and music of all kinds.
Today, I tried to cut myself off from using my phone excessively, and I was having some behavioral and mental withdrawal symptoms. I kept picking up my phone out of habit, even when I knew that I had locked my phone from accessing apps for a few hours. And as for the music, I haven't listened to much music at all today, and that's been really bothering me. To be honest, I don't even have any music that I feel interested in listening to right now. I haven't heard any new or good music in over a month, but every day (excluding today), I compulsively plug my ears with music. I despise that I do that because it distracts me and blocks me from being alone with my thoughts so I can think about things that actually matter; things that are real and impactful.
I've come up with a personalized battle plan to try and curb my addictive behaviors, but it's not going to be an easy road to kick my social media and music addictions. I've tried to do this before multiple times, and after a few days things get better, but eventually I fall back into those same traps all over again. To err is human, though, so I have to keep fighting even when I slip up. But even with that in mind, I want to try my hardest to make this a long-term practice of refraining from social media and excessive music.
I'm challenging myself to try and refrain from excessive social media and music for a period of 30 days, starting with today. With my free time, I want to engage in activities that are enjoyable and constructive. I want to improve my art style, potentially draw some educational comics to share with others (complete with citations), continue studying the skills I'll need for my new job, practicing my crocheting with a manageable project, going for walks around my neighborhood in the mornings or as the sun is setting, associating with friends offline to the best of my ability, and so much more.
To help me with the challenge I'm doing, I'm using index cards. At the top of the index card, I write tomorrow's date (because I usually fill them out before bed), and below that I write at least one main objective for the day. From there, I write tasks to accomplish throughout the day (errands, work, appointments, etc.) as well as additional tasks that can help me to reach the day's objective. Having a list of ideas of things to do during my day, as well as a daily goal makes things feel a little less like I'm doing absolutely nothing.
Hopefully this challenge will also result in an uptick of deeper thinking. I love to think about things that feel like they give me a sense of real purpose. It exercises my brain to do that.
Thank you for listening. Have a great weekend everyone!
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https://josebriones.org/dumbphone-finder
I switched to a dumbphone at one point, and it helped me a LOT. I ended up switching back because I needed certain apps, but the "detox" for a few months using a crappy little flip phone definitely helped me. Of course, if your addiction ends up just transferring to a computer, that might be problematic...
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