life without social media: fears, benefits & drawbacks

[@QuirkyKerrie]

I stopped watching/reading news for 20 years now and it is amazing how much negativity and anxiety went away when I stopped. Any time I do look, even briefly, it impacts my mood. Not a good idea for me. For me the world can continue and I am just going to pay attention to my life and not everyone else’s.

[@theallisoncompendium]

I've done this in the past few years, and it has made a huge impact on my anxiety. I understand the argument of needing to stay informed, but I just don't know that "the news" is really that informative anymore. It's just incendiary.

[@BloodDollASMR]

After going off social media this year, the benefits have been incredible! Taking up old hobbies again instead of doom scrolling for half the day, a handful of true friends reaching out more instead of however many 'friends'/followers just passively observing my life, all round better mental health and appreciation for the little things in life again... Going back to that wonderful state before we all had phones attached to our palms 24/7. Love your content and following your journey 😊

[@christinec4156]

Off social media 7 months best decision I've ever made, I'll never go back, feel so alive x

[@QuirkyKerrie]

OH, I kept meaning to tell you I love your choice of doing the black & white videos! 😊

[@RabiaSammy]

me too, after being off it for a while i dont even have the urge to go back, so its like i know which one i prefer

[@silvertrees]

I found this both interesting and helpful, thank you. As a full-time artist I feel almost duty bound to remain posting to Instagram but I have so many mixed feelings about the time and worth of it. The highlight of my week is Sunday mornings when I finish editing my newsletter and send it to my Substack readers - I feel I am able to talk about my work and life, and it reminds me of the 'good old days' of blogs - but easier. I am thinking of taking a month off Instagram and seeing how things go from there.

[@theallisoncompendium]

I call myself an information hoarder (always bazillions of tabs open in case I need them etc etc), so my FOMO is missing out on interesting information in my various hobbies if I dropped social media. I love your point that with your FOMO, they were opportunities that you didn't even really want to begin with. I'll have to think on that some more, but it's very compelling.

[@runcamelrun]

simply doing life and being there for life is not talked about enough

[@chloe-fy4wc]

Your channel inspires me so much. I definitely profited from logging off social media. I do still use it, but i follow only friends i really want to keep up with & blogs which don’t overwhelm me and use it strictly for 1 hour a day. I found it especially useful to unfollow news sources. While I do believe restraining yourself completely is irresponsible ( i’m very against being apolitical ) I keep up only with the things i can have impact on & have impact on my life & big world news and again for a very limited time ( about 30 mine / hour every other day ) bc otherwise I get overwhelmed by anxiety and don’t have energy to actually participate ! Thinking about it, to me engaging with politics is also a dimension of intentionality and being in control of your life. I’m writing this because I see a big vibe of “Politics just numb you, they’re not important to your life and you just waist your energy” in digital minimalism communities which is so wrong! If you don’t engage with politics someone will engage in them for you. And the very same people who benefit from grabbing your attention on social media, benefit from you being apolitical. I guess this is also coming from very privileged people. This is scattered but I haven’t made up my mind on the issue yet

[@martamaljkovic5242]

Im so glad the eexperiment is working for you! I am still eyeing it and it all sounds so intuitively true for me and I am loosing interest in social media (I end up mindlessly scrolling but I am avtually bored and it all feels the same old) but I am still afraid to completely cut it as I am quite lonely at the moment. I think because we autistics tend to have emotional empathy we emotionally 'live' through others lives on social media, not being able to see it in a more neutral way, and ot takes a toll on us

[@withflowingcolours]

Love this. I'm thinking about maybe doing something similar as well. I love being on social media, but like you, I'm simply unable to control my time spent on it. It's so great seeing so much amazing creativity and what's going on in the (art) world, but I also get completely overwhelmed by it and it actually impacts my own creativity in a negative way. To the point that I'm unable to draw at all. Thank you for sharing

[@WeAreBullets]

puzzles and reading, amen to that. and bird watching and just breathing lol

[@WeAreBullets]

if you havent checked out Marshall McLuhan's work/speeches/writing yet then you should, his analysis of media and its affect on our society and minds is fascinating to hear about

[@WeAreBullets]

lol i love the music and style and black and white film, it feels like youre making a statement about how 'old school' and almost Luddite it feels to simply abstain from short-form social media these days. sometimes it really does make one feel like a person-out-out-time. so funny

[@melissa_renee]

Just found your channel and love it! I used to host a minimalism podcast back in the day and we talked a lot about the things you share. I also went to a flip phone in my 30's and it helped break that addiction of scrolling. Now I rarely go on my social media accounts and when I do I get overwhelmed very quickly and get off. It will take time but your brain will become rewired. It's an amazing feeling. Also, I love how you connect your substack. I have been really struggling with figuring out how to do both substack and youtube and you have INSPIRED me! Thank you!! xo

[@melissa_renee]

Ps...My stubstack is called Wild Air. We must have similar tastes. haha!

[@Seeking_Myself]

We have the same timer! 😊

[@scorpio7938]

Great listening social media is sweet and sour i would rather get together and talk in person and growing up i didnt have social media so it was getting together in person but i know times change but i think change is good and bad i try to limit my time on social media i am pretty busy so its ok for me

[@nualafaolin7129]

Interesting! Do you include KZbin in your distance from social media? I’m not on the others, but KZbin does take up more of my time than I’d like, even if it’s long-form content…

[@charlierewilding]

Personally no because I don't have *as much* of a scrolling problem with KZbin. I have however put in place a lot of restrictions on my KZbin use like I blocked all recommended videos and shorts and only look at subscriptions (of which I have a very select few). I've found that with these tweaks I'm watching KZbin infrequently now and when I do I find myself feeling a bit sick of watching content within about half an hour (before I could scroll for hours).

[@nualafaolin7129]

@@charlierewilding thanks for the tips! 😊

[@sarahwilsonuk]

@@charlierewilding I didn't know you could block shorts! :)

[@charlierewilding]

Yes its fab! The chrome extension is called unhook ​@sarahwilsonuk

[@sarahwilsonuk]

@@charlierewilding Thanks so much!

[@_indigorising]

Such an interesting conversation! I often find myself 'reminiscing' about life before social media, and what it would be like now without it. But also have that fear of missing out on something if I were to detox. Gosh this is such an interesting topic! Do you find the connections on long - form platform are actually on a deeper, more authentic level than the ones you had on other social media platforms? ❤

[@TerryBenzie]

My social media algorithm keeps pushing tons of videos and posts of people on social media talking about how they are no longer on social media.

[@Riliesyoutube]

Do you have any advice for someone wanting to do this? I’ve been wanting to but some people tell me that I need to keep social media. And at work everyone is scrolling on there phones at lunch break. I guess I have a hard time when people judge me for not wanting to be on it and make fun of me

[@BarbaraDr2023]

She writes about it and has resources on her substack newsletter

[@emmapercy2732]

Remove yourself from those people, maybe go for a walk at lunchtime and don’t tell anyone you are disengaging from social media

[@Ane00395]

Maybe having a Amazon kindle will help you with the lunch breaks. It's still a screen so people don't tend to look bad at it. So less judgement from others while you're feeding your brain with great books!

[@Seeking_Myself]

Hi Charlie. Could you please make a video about you ADHD aswell? I have Inattentive ADHD and wonder if this is your diagnosis, too? Thanks 🌼

[@kotadiyachaitanya7957]

Hii maam do you need Video Editor? I can help you to save your Crucial time throughout my editing skills

[@Shaun_rennycinq]

I spent ages remembering back to when i felt happier and what i was like. I had a ridiculous ability to remember numbers. and guess what, i still do. 'use your app. sir' it amuses me how alien like us techno minimalists seem just because we dont follow main stream