I told earlier, that I am participating Scroll Free September campaign, that was apparently founded by the Royal Society for Public Health RSPH of the United Kingdom. I got inspired, because I have been struggling with my social media presence, and this campaign offered me a good way to test how it felt living without social media. At first it felt like having withdrawal symptoms, when not allowed to scroll or even open the applications. But after a few days it started feeling better and a normal way to live without these external stimuli. I started feeling more relaxed, and have had more energy to other activities. Of course there have been other stressors during September, but I think I feel a lot better when concentrating better to activities I am currently doing. Social media definitely makes us multitask and increases our restlessness, and that is definitely not a good thing.
I have made a couple of exceptions in scrolling. I have used WhatsApp, YouTube and my own http://villekilpia.com webpage normally. I haven’t missed Twitter or Instagram at all. Of course I have longed for my Facebook friends and my LinkedIn network, but this month has made me realize the importance of living primarily real life – not spending my time in virtual reality. This test period has also helped me in figuring out how easily we create addictions and how hard it is to challenge these habits and manners.
After my #ScrollFreeSeptember experience I am probably going to abandon Twitter and Instagram. Similarly I am going to decrease using Facebook and LinkedIn dramatically compared to time I used to use in them. I was even thinking about whether it could be possible to live without internet connection at home or not. Why do we have to live online, or do we? Hmm… What do you think?
