As I continue my month-long break from work, with minimal online time, I stumbled across this article courtesy of Cal Newport on teenagers rebelling against online life and the article ‘Luddite’ Teens Don’t Want Your Likes’ written by Alex Vadukul.
The latter follows a group of high school students from Brooklyn who had formed an informal group dedicated to promoting “a lifestyle of self-literation from social media and technology.” With further chapters starting up at surrounding schools, students had been embracing reading books, sketching, painting, quilting jeans, and whittling sticks…
I can’t tell you how much I love this!
Some of my fave memories are riding bikes, growing frogs, making up dances, singing, drawing, writing, reading, exploring and playing…
I am thankful to have grown up before life was largely based online as I had the freedom, the brain space, and time to think, create, explore, make mistakes and discover myself.
Hell, time to be BORED!
[When was the last time you were truly bored?]
“We’re approaching a moment in which not using these apps will be seen as the authentic, counter-cultural move… We don’t need to convince teenagers to stop using their phones, we just need them to discover on their own just how uncool these online media conglomerates, with their creepy geek overlords, really are.”
CAL NEWPORT
It’s heartening to hear more and more people discovering life offline.
To see people disconnecting and putting down their devices.
To watch people say no, life does not have to be this way.
It’s even more heartening to hear that young people are doing this, as they’ve spent the majority of their lives living online (or seeing their parents fixated on their phones).
In my month off, aside from laying on a blanket in the backyard watching the clouds as I recovered from the flu, I’ve rediscovered drawing, started writing again, have been working on a 4000-piece jigsaw puzzle, read books, talked with my husband, played with my dob, went to my first-ever cricket match, caught up with my brother for a joyous dinner, and will be going to a pottery class on Friday…
I no longer feel so overwhelmed.
And I feel so much clearer, calmer and happier having had the space to just be.
Part of my business is based online in digital media marketing, however, I’m soooo looking forward to more joyful offline experiences this year and a whole lot less social media.
How about you?
What are some of your fave offline memories?
And how can you live more joyfully offline this year?
Drop a comment and let me know!
