These wise words are truth telling, suggest a reckoning that we must all make. Social media, including Substack creates such a conundrum in our lives. Words such as these have immense value, need to be heard, read. Social media does create a form of connection, does have value, yet, the ‘re-wiring’ that you speak of seems to be morphing under my skin, even as I write this. My body is feeling the resistance of too much time spent in a virtual reality, which is, in a sense, feels like a foreign body. Perhaps this is akin to an organ transplant, in some ways, that always requires immune suppression in order to remain alive…a big gift to the recipients but comes at a significant cost. We can make choices, though, as thinking and processing human beings, to discern what we are willing to let into our inner circle of life. We can cultivate that discernment and flexibility, rejecting the non useful and embracing the valuable. Thank you, so much Jane, for another thoughtful and wise essay.
Yes! It makes it such a difficult ground to navigate when it’s not “all bad” (in fact, there is so much good) but you fall into the web regardless of the intention or space you are occupying. That intentionality and management requires constant vigilance (at least, that’s my personal experience anyway). Thank you so much, Sarah xx
I love the idea of costing the high tech companies something every time i don’t look at my phone. And thanks to your post, my next three purchases will be a wristwatch, an alarm clock, and a dumb phone purely for texts and calls. I can then use my iPhone for the things that only an iPhone can do, when I specifically want to, which, I am imagining, will not be very often. Thank you
Great article Jane, I love how you write when you get angry. Identifying the amount of manipulation throigh design that goes on here is so important and definitely a driver to help pay attention to our attention!
Thank you so much Sally! And yes, I do find a strange pleasure that I am "costing them" something every time I *don't* look at my phone or social media! xx
Absolutely all of everything you say Jane.🌷 What a thought provoking read and thank you again so much for sharing with us. It is as you say so worth the effort. xx
These wise words are truth telling, suggest a reckoning that we must all make. Social media, including Substack creates such a conundrum in our lives. Words such as these have immense value, need to be heard, read. Social media does create a form of connection, does have value, yet, the ‘re-wiring’ that you speak of seems to be morphing under my skin, even as I write this. My body is feeling the resistance of too much time spent in a virtual reality, which is, in a sense, feels like a foreign body. Perhaps this is akin to an organ transplant, in some ways, that always requires immune suppression in order to remain alive…a big gift to the recipients but comes at a significant cost. We can make choices, though, as thinking and processing human beings, to discern what we are willing to let into our inner circle of life. We can cultivate that discernment and flexibility, rejecting the non useful and embracing the valuable. Thank you, so much Jane, for another thoughtful and wise essay.
Yes! It makes it such a difficult ground to navigate when it’s not “all bad” (in fact, there is so much good) but you fall into the web regardless of the intention or space you are occupying. That intentionality and management requires constant vigilance (at least, that’s my personal experience anyway). Thank you so much, Sarah xx
I love the idea of costing the high tech companies something every time i don’t look at my phone. And thanks to your post, my next three purchases will be a wristwatch, an alarm clock, and a dumb phone purely for texts and calls. I can then use my iPhone for the things that only an iPhone can do, when I specifically want to, which, I am imagining, will not be very often. Thank you
Oh! This makes me SO happy to hear!! Yay!! 🙌 😍
Great article Jane, I love how you write when you get angry. Identifying the amount of manipulation throigh design that goes on here is so important and definitely a driver to help pay attention to our attention!
Thank you so much Sally! And yes, I do find a strange pleasure that I am "costing them" something every time I *don't* look at my phone or social media! xx
Oh this was another perfectly synchronised read for me Jane…thank you!
I'm so happy to hear that Christine, although I wish it wasn't something that was relevant to so many of us xx
Absolutely all of everything you say Jane.🌷 What a thought provoking read and thank you again so much for sharing with us. It is as you say so worth the effort. xx
You are the best summoner of clouds I know! xx