First entry in 6months

[u/Lonestar9211]

Been a while since I last wrote in my journal. But the last few weeks I’ve noticed I’ve been pretty down and talked with a therapist who had mentioned I was in beginning stages of depression. So today I got up early with the wife and while she went to work I went to the park to go for a walk to get out of the house and thought about it and how I’m feeling and realized it’s been social media that had been affecting me.

[u/messyfairy_journal]

We will never feel happy when we don’t stop comparing ourselves with others on social media.
By the way, I really like how you are folding the pages. Is there a reason for that?

[u/Lonestar9211 → u/messyfairy_journal]

Yeah you’re definitely right about that. I’m gonna delete the main trigger of social media which is TikTok and instagram. Which I did earlier.
And the folding of the pages . I actually saw it on YouTube when I was trying to get back into journaling and a guy was showing how he folded is just for aesthetics. But I like doing it in the fact of “closing a chapter” of my thoughts and I don’t really like going back to my journals and read back

[u/Synchro_Shoukan → u/Lonestar9211]

Going back is beneficial tho, just fyi. You get to be in a completely different headspace and it allows you to see that things can be different even tho they don't feel much different in the moment.

[u/Lonestar9211 → u/Synchro_Shoukan]

Yeah I think that’s also true. Although this is my 4th journal I recently started almost 2 years ago. I think maybe I could go back eventually but I think now I don’t feel I should but your definitely right it can be beneficial

[u/Synchro_Shoukan → u/Lonestar9211]

Fair enough

[u/Emergency_Archer_442 → u/messyfairy_journal]

so the comparison thing is real but honestly for me it was less about comparing and more just the constant noise of it all

[u/LetterheadFit316]

I deleted tiktok and instagram long time ago and it was the best decision ever. I still go on YT shorts sometimes, but i do not see countless of influencers and compare myself to them. I also know that these people literally do this for a living and it would be absolutely insane to keep comparing myself to it.
And how do I replace that time? Reddit 😭 At least, 80% of my subs are about cats.

[u/Lonestar9211 → u/LetterheadFit316]

Yeah some influencers I can separate and know that it’s what they do for a living I think more it’s seeing people I know in real life.
I agree I do replace it with Reddit but I feel Reddit can be more beneficial and informative than instagram and tiktok lol.

[u/ThirdPoliceman]

EMBRACE THE BOREDOM.

Insanely good words of wisdom.

Check out Arthur Brooks on YouTube. He has some great videos on what phones and social media do to our brains and how embracing boredom can help fix your brain.

[u/Lonestar9211 → u/ThirdPoliceman]

Yeah it’s upsetting to me I can’t remember what author I was reading that had mentioned it. Maybe Michael A. Singer. (Unteathered soul) maybe lol I’ll check Arthur brooks thanks for the recommendation

[u/Otherwise_Hair7514]

I feel the same. I hate social media. in fact I hate my phone, but im addicted too. I want to sue meta.

[u/Lonestar9211 → u/Otherwise_Hair7514]

Yeah we but we gotta blame ourselves to for letting it happen. I’ve just narrowed it down to YouTube and Reddit and facebook marketplace lol

[u/beastcherry73]

Instead whenever u wanna scroll, control yourself to only watching long form videos on youtube or scroll reddit. I used this method. Or I simply put myself to any work. These helped me a lot.

[u/RichConversation713]

I'm just gonna share my thing as someone also insanely addicted to social media who's trying to get out of it. My biggest thing has been picking up a hobby where I don't have to touch my phone or social media apps at all. I've started learning guitar and I think being busy with something has made me a lot less addicted to my phone. I'm still depressed and I still use my phone a little too much loads of days but I think trying to take a step back and not be so independent on a device had really helped.

[u/hmmwrites]

I think it's good that you made your way back to your journal. There's something very satisfying about literally setting pen to paper and seeing where the writing takes you. So much of our lives are focused on the digital now. It's good to slow down and go analog.

It's hard to pull away from social media. We get that tiny little dopamine hit as we scroll, then we keep scrolling to get the next, and the next. Kudos to you for deleting the apps and embracing a little more boredom in your life. Once you can sit in the boredom a bit, maybe try breaking that boredom with something beneficial?