It’s almost three months since I didn’t have a smartphone in my hands all the time. It simply means I cannot check and update my social media accounts as much as I used to. Buying online isn’t as seamless as I remember it. Now, I have to drag the bulk of my tablet just to do the things that used to be so easy with a smartphone. It’s more about the weight making the experience more location limited. Say you’re more inclined to use the smartphone when lying down. But with a tablet, it feels appropriate to prop yourself to use it better.
And it’s not just about the convenience I lost during these months of using my dumbphone. It’s also about what I gained, like getting out of the echo chambers.
What do I mean by that?
Well, my social media accounts have become an echo chamber where whatever I say online bounces back to me through likes, hearts, and comments. Doesn’t it feel good to be validated? But to seek your identity through external validation becomes a twisted life, yes?
And now I am free from that.
What do I do these days?
Aside from blogging daily and working as a researcher to keep the lights on, I also use my time not spent on social media reading books, participating in the Urgent Optimists community, and taking online Bible classes.
Perhaps, if you’ve been into the zone of mindlessly scrolling online (which I also find myself with Twitter at times, gah, I’m still on the net), it means that you cannot spend the time you spent on one thing on another. Opportunity cost, it is.
jessa 