Sunshine and Olly

by Jonathan Blaustein

Consider this a Public Service Announcement: 

Please, pretty please... Stop Scrolling! 







I decided to give up the habit a few weeks ago, and I’ve already read two novels.

This is not something I heard from a friend, that I’m passing along second-hand.

No.

A few weeks ago, I decided I was fed up with constantly losing my train of thought. 

Forgetting what I’d just gone to the other room to get, or which social media site I’d just visited?

It went from being annoying to downright threatening.

I’m losing skills!  

Will I let these multi-billion, (near trillion) dollar companies rent out my brain, and destroy it from the inside?

Am I content to get dumber, bit by bit, forever?

As it turns out, the answer is no.

No, I am not. 







Sure, martial arts helps teach discipline, as does parenting. So perhaps I was in the right frame of mind to try.

Rather than give up social media entirely, (which would suck, as I use it to communicate with a lot of people,) rather, I thought about what scrolling is.

The act of passing as much information by your subconscious as you can, as quickly as you can - stopping only when the combination of shiny lights, and car-crash information attacks your subconscious, and you click on something. 

What does this process reward?

The loudest voices in the room. (Metaphorically speaking.)

The most shocking stuff, and then even more shocking, becomes the only thing that can get your attention, so that’s where you land. 

But before you get there, you’re short-circuiting your attention span, and hollowing out your ability to focus. 

Do you really want that?

Probably not.






What’s my process?

I use FB/IG/X for DM’ing now, and I will visit certain feeds/accounts, by choice, to intentionally absorb their information. (Especially during the NFL Draft last week.)

But I don’t scroll anymore. 

Rather, I spent time luxuriating in 20th Century Pakistan, (via Moth Smoke,) and early 19th Century England, (via Persuasion.)

I used my brain to get smarter, and not only that, but Theo and Jessie each asked me to read one of the two novels. 

And they were both psyched when I followed through, so I did a solid for my loved ones.

This is a pure win-win situation here, and the only people that lose are Zuckerberg and Musk.

Maybe you could try it too?