When is the last time you looked up for even a few minutes at a cloudless night sky?
When is the last time you looked endlessly at that portal in your hands?
Which do you feel better serves your needs?
I’m doing an experiment. Like everyone else (I’m assuming), I don’t think I am addicted to one form of social media or another. But, I am noticing the ease with which I rotate back to Instagram, for example, just to see the latest…skuttlebutt or anything else that might be entertaining.
I’ve decided to test myself a little bit on this by deleting the Instagram app on my phone. What will I feel when I have that extra minute? Or, what will I feel in the evening when I’m too tired to do anything else, but am not ready for bed? If I don’t have that to turn to (because it is so easy), what will I turn to? What if I have simply deluded myself into thinking that I’m not into something more than I think I am?
I know there is something psychologically appealing about keeping track of controversy. It feeds something in us. Perhaps, we think we’re more in control of something, if we’re aware of it. But, it’s hard not to notice how easy it is to go looking for it as well.
Besides how it feels, what does it really feed? Is that something constructive or good or is that something else?
I know myself well enough that sometimes I have to build in things to check myself.
At the very least, I know that what I feel, based on what I’m looking at, can be quite different things (night sky versus social media, etc.). I think I need to find out if what I’m looking at is creating something in me that I’m not aware of.
Maybe you’ve already performed an experiment like this — what did you discover?
Accepting oneself does not preclude an attempt to become better.
