The Right to Live Offline
I will dare to be carelessly honest with you here. The idea for this article came up one day when I was watching our founder Ingrid Silva's IG stories. By the time this article is being written, Ingrid is pregnant. She had revealed it on her social media in a beautiful campaign, she explained to her audience the reasons why she hadn't revealed her pregnancy earlier. I wish I had recorded my reaction in that very moment because you wouldn't believe it: right before she even says it, I'm thinking "she has the right to embrace and enjoy this experience by herself first and with her family.” Two seconds later, she says it. Weird huh? Actually it is not. As a disclaimer, this is not an article about influencers and their highly demanding audiences. This is an article about people. You and I, allegedly anonymous people trying to make it in this newbie showbiz we call social media, go through the same struggle. Our communities, family and friends, people we love and care about have been constantly and unknowingly demanding from us to live our lives online. What happens when a first-time-mother-to- be pursues the right to privately enjoy such experience with her beloved ones? She has to justify it. Some must argue that this is only happening because she is huge on the internet; however, this could not be further from being true and I will demonstrate here why.
If the food beautifully presents itself on our plate, a picture before eating it must be taken. If we look effortlessly gracious for any reason, a selfie before going out is mandatory. Remember that trip to Paris with your best friend when you bought that fabulous hat and the wind blew it away and you had to run to get it back and you almost didn't? Wow, that was fun but, did you record that moment? No? Bummer, it would have been a fun memory to have registered in that expensive camera. What happened in the last couple of years that made us shape our lives behind the camera in order to look in a certain way in front of it? Are we living in a fulfilling way or are you just building audiences?
Another interesting topic I'd like to bring is parental social media behavior. It is out of discussion that the internet has become a digital and convenient bridge between families who live away. Parents will update their children's lives online in order to fulfill the distance between states or, more often than ever, countries. However, when do we draw the line between what is acceptable on social media channels and what is not? The matter of the fact is we have been immersed in this culture for only two decades and already the consequences of this abrupt, and not subtle, change have printed new standards of social and cultural behavior in society. Studies will say that two decades is not a very long time for a technology or curve of behavior to change a society and yet, the internet has done so in such a short period of time, which brings to my attention another thought: we have not been taught any social media etiquette. Although we have seen it recently, the idea of managing the amount of hours or to simply curate what goes online or not has never been in the original plans of those who created these tools. Social media channels are designed for addiction, compulsive behavior and no sense of boundaries whatsoever. Back to my point, this is why it has become socially unacceptable to live an offline life.
It is not only mandatory to be constantly online and to share our deepest experiences, we have also raised the bar to a new standard: the happier and trendier the moments in our lives are, the more instagrammable they become. It is not only expected to leave our private lives behind us but, the way we live must go through some changes before even thinking of living this life. For instance, when we think about an outfit, we automatically, yet subconsciously, take into consideration if the same outfit will look good on that picture we'll share later. How many times have we gotten to that restaurant or to that party and taken pictures right after getting there? After all, instagrammable pictures must be taken while hair and outfit are still impeccable, right?
Bringing into conclusion, the social media world is fantastic. It opens doors every single day to so many people. It connects us to job opportunities, it brings us close to family when we're living abroad and don't always find the time to catch up on the phone. The list of benefits is vast and I won't deny it. Social media is good and it can conduct us towards a world of infinite possibilities. It is not about demonizing social media, it is about paying close attention to how we use it to our benefit and to make life better and not the other way around. If the internet is a democratic world in which we can be whoever we want, why is it so hard to allow others to decide whatever they want to live in or out of it?
Can Meditation Save Us From This Overstimulating Social Media World? | Mind
The answer is: it depends. Meditation is certainly key to a more balanced life and mental health; however, other measures must be taken along with it in order to conquer the overwhelmingness social media and the internet has brought into our lives. Measures such as creating boundaries for our usage of social media; making more conscious decisions about who we follow and who we don't; learning our worth in the world in spite of what the internet dictates; learning a healthier usage of social media and turning it into our ally instead of our foe. Meditation is crucial to this conversation because it is the way to all of those measures we are talking about. I have been trained to practice TM— Transcendental Meditation, at the David Lynch Foundation and, after the past two years of practice, I'd like to share some of the knowledge I have gained during this time.
To silence the noises of the outside world. The last time we talked, we chatted about how listening to our hearts is crucial to figuring out choices in life. When we silence the voices of the world, such as memories, thoughts, deadlines, etc, we gain the opportunity to listen to our own. Although meditation doesn't silence completely all the noises at first, the more I meditate, the more fluid and less noisy my meditation is. It is not easy to let go of our daily preoccupations and concerns, but meditating has helped me to better manage them.
To comprehend our pain. Meditation helps to connect body and mind. I found myself in situations where I could manage my thoughts and actions, but not my feelings. After the first months into meditation, this connection between mind and body got closer.
To reduce stress. Anxiety is the disease of our century, it is the main cause of several mental illnesses as we discussed a few articles ago. The world is filled with so much new information that our brains are not capable of processing not even half of the amount we are exposed to. The news; new applications; new ways of communicating socially; new ways of engaging professionally; etc, that we find ourselves in the midst of an endless cycle of stimulation and zero time to recalibrate, much less to rest. Therefore, meditation plays an important role in this dynamic because it is proved to, not only reduce stress, but to also strengthen our ability to filter what is good or bad for us in the middle of all of this. With time, our brains get better at anticipating unnecessary or harmful stimulation and not getting as overwhelmed as it would before.
To connect with ourselves and others. You probably have heard about mindfulness— the state of being conscious or aware of something, right? I won't dig too deeply into it because this is a more practical article but, I will tell you this: meditation has kept me in the present moment. How do I know that? Because the more I meditate, the quieter my mind gets. Consequently, there is less interference between my mind and body and when such a connection happens, the awareness of my surroundings is effortlessly organic.
Improve focus. In almost two years, meditation has rewired my brain. The more I meditate, the faster my brain accesses a state of full relaxation. With time, it made me feel less anxious and more happy. I also noticed that I have been applying my meditation techniques in life. For instance, in TM— Transcendental Meditation, I was told to not fight random thoughts while meditating. Instead, I would let them come and go fluidly. That way, I would direct my energy and concentration into meditation. Therefore, the random thoughts would quickly go away. In my daily life, especially when I'm working, I feel more present in the moment and distractions such as the tempting feeling of reaching out for my phone all day long, slightly went away.
Meditation is a mental portable spa. I can meditate from everywhere in the world and still access the part of the brain that silences outside noises. There are no tools or equipment required, only a place where we feel it is safe and quiet enough for us to dive into the marvelousness of stimulating our brain and body to work together through meditation.
Ultimately, meditation is an organic way to connect to others and with nature. In a world where everything we experience happens behind a screen, meditation brings us back to our inner self, brings us back to the present moment. That is what they call mindfulness, the state of being conscious or aware of something. I myself like to call it lifefulness, a state of choosing to be exactly where we are in life. At the end, meditation might not save us from this overstimulating social media world, but it will surely guide us to get through it in a healthier and more positive way.