Decolonizing our Attention

Back on social media, but not back on social media

Steps, by Manierre Dawson

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Last week I got back on social media. I’d been doing it incrementally, then suddenly I was on Twitter daily, and checking/posting on Instagram. It was a good experiment. I noticed more anxiety within hours of posting a succession of tweets. Instagram didn’t feel so bad, but when my friend reminded me how terrible she felt being trapped in the app, I blocked it on my phone.

My Twitter is more tricky. I started an account for my podcast, baby bodhisattva, and deactivated my personal account. The thing about Twitter is that my account will be deleted after a month of deactivation. Very sneaky, Twitter. I don’t foresee myself deleting my account. But I do, after this week, have more lucid insight into just how deeply social media affects me, and how much I don’t want it in my life. It took over two months away for me to regain enough feeling in my soul to understand that these apps had been sucking essentia…