Hi Louise,
I felt compelled to leave a comment here because this video is so powerful and speaks so much truth — social media CAN be used to educate and inform, however, for most of us, it is a tool of distraction. I’d like to say I’m different, but I’m not. I fall into the exact same traps as everyone else…”the power of maybe”. The quantum biological processor is wired a certain way, and I chose the trap every single day. My friend said that I am “different” because I don’t pick up my phone to check 50 times a day –instead, I check 5 or 10 or 15, depending on what’s going on. Still, I am noticing how distracting that is, how it removes me from the present moment, how habitual it has become to just reach for the phone and check, in order, Instagram (tho I rarely post), gmail, Facebook (where I proceed to waste most of my very precious time and energy). And yet, I still do it. So what is the solution for someone like me, who is not quite ready to give it all up (just yet) and who does not want to live habitually from the lizard brain? Choice point up, surely… and yet, in the moment of acting from habituation, that is one of the hardest things to actually chose…especially when the stakes don’t seem so high (such as, for instance, with substance addiction or more intense behavioral addiction such as gambling). I’m curious what you think…
Lastly, what I’ve noticed for myself is that even when social media is used to empower the message is brief, fast, and competing for attention. Hard to have meaningful discussions…and, at the same time, it can be useful to plant a seed, if you will.
Thank you, Stela, for making the time to share your thoughts – much appreciated.
As in all things, all meaning is context dependent. When I consider my ‘device’ time, I first consider the context within which I attribute meaning to such things. The larger context for any and all of it is the quality of my life – and not just who I am but who I am choosing to become.
I do not now nor ever have thought of myself as a passive person. And yet, one day not so long ago, I paused to consider how active or passive my device time was creating me to become. So much of what had drawn my attention could easily be attributed to a nano-second of boredom appeasement… none of which ever made a difference in the ongoing quality of my life or of my personal evolution. I began to notice that so much of what I was paying attention to amounted to nothing more than a momentary distraction from the moment I was already in. I had become a ‘watcher’ instead of a ‘creator’. I decided that more of that was not who I chose to become.
Leaving Facebook was an interesting experience. We have already deeply ingrained in our first-world culture that social media is an essential part of our lives. So, to remove oneself from THAT was viewed as an act of insanity! And yet, I am here to tell the tale: I still stand and have completely forgotten about it! Imagine…. how quickly its absence dissolved into my more finely tuned perceptions.
Perhaps that is what it’s all about: perceptions. Where do I want my perceptions to be sourced? Seeded? Expanded? Do I want my perceptions to emerge from my own experience or to be shaped by the stories of others… no matter how compelling the story-telling might be? In the truth of my experience, becoming more mindful of the degree to which my device encourages me to be a bystander…. to seek to be more curious about the lives of others than I am about the creation of my own… propelled me to let go and explore what else might surface in its stead. To date, I am not disappointed. And in truth, the separation has now reached a point where I can’t even remember how long ago I let it go. It does not matter.
So, yes: to your comment of choice point, up. And further to that recognition, consider how else you might choose to live your life is you were not so preoccupied with the lives of others? Writing, perhaps, and sharing your own insights with those of us who choose to explore themselves as a byproduct of that? Painting, perhaps… taking an internal cue and allowing it to make its way into form and matter? Kundalini yoga, perhaps? Alone or shared with others. Exploring the joys of your personal relationships and what might arise in the very moment of your engaging them?
Perhaps, there are moments/events that I am ‘missing’ as a result of having abandoned social media. And, nonetheless, I trust that if it is more than a passing distraction, it will make its way into my life. Perhaps I miss moments of your creativity as a result of my abandonment of Facebook AND I follow your blog…. knowing that with every post, I will awaken to something meaningful about mySelf as a result of your own discovery. However, doing so requires that I make the effort… that I invest time and sustained attention… to follow your journey as an invitation to my own. Doing so is an act of intimacy… with you and with mySelf. I have no sense that such intimacy exists with social media. To the contrary, I believe that social media makes it possible for us to pretend that these exist in our lives. I am not one to support pretence – in myself or others. 🙂
I am a deep-diver into the Soul of being. In my experience, social media is intentionally designed to lessen our willingness and ability to engage at that level. Without that, there is not intimacy. The paradox is that social media feigns connection while profoundly disconnecting us from ourselves. Without that, no other connection is possible. Are we even noticing?
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Doing so has helped me to better shape my own.
Hi Louise,
I felt compelled to leave a comment here because this video is so powerful and speaks so much truth — social media CAN be used to educate and inform, however, for most of us, it is a tool of distraction. I’d like to say I’m different, but I’m not. I fall into the exact same traps as everyone else…”the power of maybe”. The quantum biological processor is wired a certain way, and I chose the trap every single day. My friend said that I am “different” because I don’t pick up my phone to check 50 times a day –instead, I check 5 or 10 or 15, depending on what’s going on. Still, I am noticing how distracting that is, how it removes me from the present moment, how habitual it has become to just reach for the phone and check, in order, Instagram (tho I rarely post), gmail, Facebook (where I proceed to waste most of my very precious time and energy). And yet, I still do it. So what is the solution for someone like me, who is not quite ready to give it all up (just yet) and who does not want to live habitually from the lizard brain? Choice point up, surely… and yet, in the moment of acting from habituation, that is one of the hardest things to actually chose…especially when the stakes don’t seem so high (such as, for instance, with substance addiction or more intense behavioral addiction such as gambling). I’m curious what you think…
Lastly, what I’ve noticed for myself is that even when social media is used to empower the message is brief, fast, and competing for attention. Hard to have meaningful discussions…and, at the same time, it can be useful to plant a seed, if you will.
Thank you, Stela, for making the time to share your thoughts – much appreciated.
As in all things, all meaning is context dependent. When I consider my ‘device’ time, I first consider the context within which I attribute meaning to such things. The larger context for any and all of it is the quality of my life – and not just who I am but who I am choosing to become.
I do not now nor ever have thought of myself as a passive person. And yet, one day not so long ago, I paused to consider how active or passive my device time was creating me to become. So much of what had drawn my attention could easily be attributed to a nano-second of boredom appeasement… none of which ever made a difference in the ongoing quality of my life or of my personal evolution. I began to notice that so much of what I was paying attention to amounted to nothing more than a momentary distraction from the moment I was already in. I had become a ‘watcher’ instead of a ‘creator’. I decided that more of that was not who I chose to become.
Leaving Facebook was an interesting experience. We have already deeply ingrained in our first-world culture that social media is an essential part of our lives. So, to remove oneself from THAT was viewed as an act of insanity! And yet, I am here to tell the tale: I still stand and have completely forgotten about it! Imagine…. how quickly its absence dissolved into my more finely tuned perceptions.
Perhaps that is what it’s all about: perceptions. Where do I want my perceptions to be sourced? Seeded? Expanded? Do I want my perceptions to emerge from my own experience or to be shaped by the stories of others… no matter how compelling the story-telling might be? In the truth of my experience, becoming more mindful of the degree to which my device encourages me to be a bystander…. to seek to be more curious about the lives of others than I am about the creation of my own… propelled me to let go and explore what else might surface in its stead. To date, I am not disappointed. And in truth, the separation has now reached a point where I can’t even remember how long ago I let it go. It does not matter.
So, yes: to your comment of choice point, up. And further to that recognition, consider how else you might choose to live your life is you were not so preoccupied with the lives of others? Writing, perhaps, and sharing your own insights with those of us who choose to explore themselves as a byproduct of that? Painting, perhaps… taking an internal cue and allowing it to make its way into form and matter? Kundalini yoga, perhaps? Alone or shared with others. Exploring the joys of your personal relationships and what might arise in the very moment of your engaging them?
Perhaps, there are moments/events that I am ‘missing’ as a result of having abandoned social media. And, nonetheless, I trust that if it is more than a passing distraction, it will make its way into my life. Perhaps I miss moments of your creativity as a result of my abandonment of Facebook AND I follow your blog…. knowing that with every post, I will awaken to something meaningful about mySelf as a result of your own discovery. However, doing so requires that I make the effort… that I invest time and sustained attention… to follow your journey as an invitation to my own. Doing so is an act of intimacy… with you and with mySelf. I have no sense that such intimacy exists with social media. To the contrary, I believe that social media makes it possible for us to pretend that these exist in our lives. I am not one to support pretence – in myself or others. 🙂
I am a deep-diver into the Soul of being. In my experience, social media is intentionally designed to lessen our willingness and ability to engage at that level. Without that, there is not intimacy. The paradox is that social media feigns connection while profoundly disconnecting us from ourselves. Without that, no other connection is possible. Are we even noticing?
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Doing so has helped me to better shape my own.
Aloha!