Social Media Self Exorcism

I was just having a conversation with my sister about the positive things we’re doing for ourselves this year, and we got onto the subject of social media usage! As someone who has been online for all of my adult life, I’ve seen a lot of perennial hype around “unplugging” and taking a “tech detox”. This is well intended, but I think it demonizes technology and doesn’t do much to better understand artificial intelligence. It’s easy to place blame on an algorithm boogey-man for corrupting the youth of the world with nonsense memes and shopping addiction, but I think there’s more power in our fingertips than people recognize! I’d like to offer up a better idea… I’ve been using my screen-time *purposefully*. This means I am changing the way social media and search engines classify me; by intentionally avoiding the downward spiral into things that don’t do much for me personally, I’m sending stronger signals for what really matters to me. It’s basically like re-setting your identity online!

It takes time, but once the fluff was weeded out in this way I personally changed my attitude towards the internet completely. It’s a tool that wants to work for you, it just needs some input from us! I’m taking this practice to the next level, and any internet activity that isn’t in line with my personal growth is going to be scrolled away into the abyss. If I need to see things like the news, I’ll do that on a public device instead of the one linked to me personally. I’m going to continue to educate the algorithm, with a focus on my art, photography and fitness; because those are the subjects that I value most when spending time online. ? I’ll update you after a while of real discipline with this, but I’m also interested in Your relationship with technology! Is it a positive or a negative in your life?