News You Can Lose

My iphone sent me a disturbing message the other day. It was an accounting of the number of screen hours I had accumulated in the previous week. I was appalled! Surely I hadn’t spent that much time gazing and scrolling mindlessly. There must be some mistake.

It was however, one of those famous light bulb moments. You know….. the ones that are basically epiphanies with songbirds in the background, angels hovering above and the whole scene bathed in brilliant sunlight as you vow to make a massive change in your lifestyle. Perhaps I exaggerate a little, but it really did shock me. I had no idea I had wasted so much time but I had to acknowledge that I had for all intents and purposes gone down the “screen addiction rabbit hole.”

How did this happen? Well, I feel completely justified in blaming Covid. ( I mean why not blame Covid? It seems to be responsible for a myriad of world problems so lets include an obsession with news of the day and be done with it) ) Add to that the fact that I am retired and can fill my day at leisure as I please. Apparently I was filling it with a lot of “nothing.” When I did a detailed analysis of my screen time, I found an approximate 50/50 distribution between news sites and social media.

Okay… the news sites were stimulating my brain and making me think about important issues. Being well informed on both Canadian and global topics, I knew more than the average person. Surely that was a good thing? Well, not necessarily. Apparently, although I thought I was impressing others with my detailed knowledge and analysis, it was more likely I was boring people to death. My “conversation content” was not well rounded to say the very least.

Supposedly, the ego searches out information to reinforce already held beliefs. I have some fairly strong political ones so news articles bolstering said beliefs were the ones I devoured, and there were plenty of them. In order to feed my insatiable appetite, I found myself skimming articles and then spending ages reading comments posted by other like minded individuals. Eventually I started posting comments of my own and writing letters to the editor…… uh oh, I was hooked! This was indeed a slippery slope.

And is there anyone among us who hasn’t at some point succumbed to the lure of social media? If one such person exists, I suggest that they are living deep in the woods with no internet connectivity and perhaps an aversion to human contact. For the rest of us mere mortals, wasting time on social media is only a cell phone away. And many of us, myself included, keep that cell phone ever close. It follows us to our car, our bedroom and even our bathroom. We feel naked and lost if it isn’t within an arms reach. Are these classic signs of an unhealthy attachment? Dare I use the word addiction more than once in the same post?

Is it wrong to think that to a great extent we are victims of internet giants and our own human nature? Facebook, Twitter and Instagram all prey on our vulnerability when it comes to our voyeuristic interest in the lives of others. And is it wrong to want to display for others the wonderful, fulfilling life we are living? Even if it is just a mirage? Hmmm…. sounds a bit like someone desperately trying to justify unhealthy behavior.

But enough about that. Let’s talk about me again. Fortunately, I was savvy enough to realize that my screen time viewing was unacceptable and I had to do something. If you have ever tried to “detox” you know all too well how difficult it is. I wish I could say that I formulated a detailed and realistic plan but no such luck. I did think seriously about turning off my notifications but couldn’t figure out how to do it and anyway there were new instagram posts to read. So I continue to stumble along but at least it isn’t mindlessly. I have maintained my screen habits but now I regularly chastise myself for doing so. Those songbirds and angels will just have to find someone else to cheer on.