Self-Interruption and Distraction
I recently stopped using all of my social media, inspired by Cal Newport's Deep Work, and this resonates deeply with me.At risk of sounding like an out-of-touch baby boomer (I'm 18), I think the portrayed utility of staying connected with people, etc etc, isn't the utility that drives our social media usage anymore. For me at least, the only tangible thing it accomplished in the long run was disrupting my boredom. I found that most of the content I was consuming was the equivalent of reading a magazine in the bathroom; I probably don't give a shit about the contents, but some content (regardless of quality) is preferable to idle boredom.I've found, after a few weeks of not using it at all, that the times during which I'm bored are more easily spent on things that I'd otherwise ~feel~ too busy for, even if I had the time to do them all along. It's not even that I fill my boredom with productivity; I, kinda abstractly, feel less busy now that I allow myself to idle. It's weirdly made life a lot less stressful even though browsing social media is technically zero-effort.It's also inspired me to tune out all of the content that relied on a push model to reach me (unsubscribing from certain newsletters, barely any notifications enabled, etc). It gives me a feeling of control to be able to choose when to consume certain content instead of being made to by virtue of notification.