Cultivating Mental Silence

View Original

Off the Social Media Grid again...sort of!

Off the social media grid again...sort of!I'm taking some time off from Twitter. At the time of writing this blogpost, it's been 10 days since I've checked my Twitter Feed. This (going off the social media grid) is not new for me. I am pretty much off of Facebook. I may check that once a week now...if that. So why am I taking a break from Twitter? It's just not "doing it" for me lately. When I say "doing it" I mean...making me happy. Why invest time in something like Twitter if it's not going to making you happy? Maybe I just need to figure out what Twitter should be for me and not fixate on my experience with it.Currently, I have 2 lists that I check in on when I access Twitter. The biggest list (the one I check the most) is a group of people whose ideas I am interested in. It's fun to check in on them because I get an idea of what's on their mind or what they are working on. However, I just realized that most, if not all of these people host a podcast I listen to weekly. I get so much more from them on these podcasts than what I read from them on Twitter. Am I suffering from FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) by following these people on Twitter?Maybe I'm totally overthinking this...that wouldn't be the first time.Maybe my state of mind needs an adjustment while I'm on Twitter. I usually check Twitter late in the day...after work...when I'm home. I'm usually pretty tired when I check and there are times I check just to say to myself that I did. It's in those moments that I feel like I'm not doing it for fun and as a result...I don't feel happy about it...like I should be doing something else.There are so many other things I could be doing...things I'm finding happiness in...like cooking, writing, reading books and blogs as well as listening to podcasts.Maybe I need to go back to giving myself a defined amount of time when I get on Twitter. But...this feels like the overthinking thing again. Why can't I just get on...check things out...get off...and move on!?This break I'm taking off from Twitter is not absolute...the very blogpost I'm composing right now will in fact get pushed to Twitter (to widen my audience) as soon as I finish it and run the appropriate Workflow. I'll go back to Twitter...probably soon. And...it's too early to say my time away has resulted in me being more happy. I can say that I've been writing more, reading more, and listening to more podcasts.Brady Haran...co-host of [Hello Internet](http://www.hellointernet.fm/) recently observed that going on Twitter is, "the new walking down the street." This observation gets me thinking; have I decided to stop "walking down the street?" I do not think so. More like, I'm taking a pause...stopping...looking around...listening...for the things that I enjoy most about that walk...before moving forward.