I just want to say that am very picky about who I follow and you are one of the people I look forward to checking in on! This post speaks on all the things I have been feeling lately and really needed to hear in organized words! Thank you for this thought journey it has helped me with my perspective on how media is influencing my brain!
Aw thank you that means a lot! I aim to only share what feels real and sometimes that’s harder than others 😅 glad this connected- it was good for me to process through too!
Really resonated with this post! I recently read Dopamine Kids by Michaleen Doucleff and, similar to a sentiment you expressed, it caused me to think a lot more about my own screen time than my kid’s because I already am very cautious about his screen use, less so about mine.
I learned from the book that dopamine gives us motivation but not satisfaction. That’s why we scroll on and on and feel icky afterwards. I have been trying to close the dopamine loop and find satisfaction after taking in media of any kind. My favorite experiment has been journaling 1-3 sentences after finishing a book rather than just hopping to the next. I find that even the most mindless books I read give me some fodder for reflection and it makes me feel way more satisfied than my usual ritual of logging the book on Storygraph and watching my stats change.
I’m an artist who was on a break for this exact reason. I found myself scrolling and comparing myself to others. “I know my art is good, why am I not growing like I want” I felt like I spent more time scrolling, getting overwhelmed, and not creating because of all the noise. I took a break because art markets were a struggle and growing online was even more of a struggle.
The other week I made a whimsical little home for my phone. It’s a cathedral wall with a pocket for me to leave my phone in and just live my life. Well, I made a video of it and got my first viral video. I went from 600 followers to almost 10k in two weeks. It’s exciting because I want to grow and cultivate a life where I can make art full-time but it just put all the clutter back into my brain.
1. The point of making the home for my phone was to get me off my phone…. The video going viral did the opposite.
2. How do I share my passion for art, home decor, fashion, food without adding to all the noise and over consumption?
It’s all so overwhelming and feels like a battle in my head. The constant scrolling “looking for inspiration” when I have a long list of ideas already written down. Social media this double edged sword that allows you to share your passions meet people who share those passions. Which is amazing. But it’s also so much selling and consuming.
I keep finding myself spiraling. Asking myself how can I grow and turn this love of creativity into a sustainable career for myself without being part of the problem and getting sucked into the problem like I always do.
Thank you for your post. It makes me feel a lot less alone. I know there’s so many of us just tired of the noise and wanting something different. Sorry for my long rant haha.
Thank you for saying all of this! I've been working so hard to finally let go of the doom scroll. This week I read Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen. She writes the most whimsical books. Making the mundane magical in the Southern US where food and magic are at the heart of every story. Her book Garden Spells was my first and remains an absolute favorite. Reading reminds me to choose whimsy. YOU remind me to choose whimsy. The content you've created is always so magical. Thank you, Eby for your honesty here. Stay whimsical!
I don’t have a piece of media to share, but just wanted to thank you for this post. I’ve also been feeling so overwhelmed by media and propaganda lately, and so much of what you wrote resonates with me. It’s so nice to read something so unmistakably human. I truly appreciate your presence online as a creator - thank you ❤️
Thank you for this piece, Ebby. It resonated--dealing with the same ADHD brain fog and chatter and push-pull relationship with social media as a self-employed creative over here, and it's always nice to hear that we are not alone in charting this new frontier. I think a lot about how we will look back in 50 years and think "gosh, we needed safeguards that just weren't available to us."
I do hope that we as a society will find ways to use the tools for world building that we do already have (like legislation) to make the new media landscape less addictive and less harmful to our malleable lil critter brains. In the meantime, I've been reading "The Right to Oblivion: Privacy and the Good Life" (topical) by Lowry Pressly, and it's been thought-provoking in a hopeful way. I recommend.
Yes to all if it!!! I find myself saying put down the phone April! Sometimes a quick look for information turns into an hour rabbit hole of stolen time. I tried to immerse myself in my garden this year....it's so rewarding to bring in my own food and dry my own herbs for the year. I'm also a knitter so I do have something to do while relaxing, sometimes I get so mad at myself when I get stuck in a scroll and it could have been an hour knitting. I hope you are right and more people are waking up to the effects of scrolling....I'm definitely here for participating in life and not just watching others.
This was my experience a number of months back too. It was bothering me so much that I left Instagram at the start of the year and I feel so much better for it. I expected to miss it but I really don't. Although there are a few friends whose updates I miss seeing. I do scroll Substack at times but I don't have the app on my phone so I can only 'intentionally' scroll when I sit down at my laptop, and Substack feels a bit different, it requires more focus and presence to read long-form writing I think.
I also relate to being strict with policing my daughter's screen time (she has barely any, save for an occasional documentary - she's 6) but being much more slack with my own. This was one of the things that pushed me to get off Instagram in fact, I don't want her to grow up thinking it's normal to have a parent on a screen so much of the time. I'm still working on it, but it's interesting to hear that I'm not the only one who has found this challenging!
Thank you for your honesty. I have been consciously choosing to put my phone on flight mode overnight so I can choose in the morning when I am ready to be contactable or online. Your content has brought me joy with your authenticity. Your content does not feel like consumption. Aside from this, I watch mandala painting videos as this is a new hobby of mine. Once I register I am on the doom scroll asmr train, I get off.
I have listened to The Four Agreements twice since seeing you got it for your bday. Your content is helpful and I feel the alignment with my current path, so thank you Ebby!
wow. wow. wow. wow. wow thank you for this, ebby. this is such a clear articulation of so much of what i'm feeling to. so thoughtful. okay you asked what piece of media i consumed that was more positive, and i'd say reading "yesteryear" (the physical book!) and also reading substack writers i adore which includes you.
Wow this hits home so hard Ebby!! Thank you for formulating all of this into words because this is exactly how I’ve been feeling too. I’m always so excited when you post, you are one of the only people who still feels genuinely authentic and real on social media. Your posts always make me smile and inspire. But that aside I do wonder how does she do it!? How does she post so much and film so much of her life and not go crazy!? I definitely don’t have it in me to be the content creator but always admired the ones who could… but reading this just reminds me like oh yeah, she’s human too and even through all her authentic posts she’s feeling the same way. We’re not alone in this. This topic is sooo important. Like truly our life depends on it. So thanks for sharing. I feel like I’ll come back to this post again and again to help remind me to take a breath and come back to what’s real.
Ooh also I just went to a local showing my friend put on. She is swimming the English channel next month, and brought together community to watch a movie about her hero, Trudy Ederle, the first documented woman to swim the channel. The Young Woman and The Sea. It was moving and exciting and connective to watch a movie as an event.
Not sure if music counts as media, but I have been listening to Riomas' new album Gather Your Resilience on repeat and I can FEEL it feeding my brain and body 😍🫠
This was such a wonderful read Ebby - I relate to this so hard! One thing I have enjoyed recently is Galahad and The Grail by Malcom Guite - it is the first of a four volume retelling of the Arthurian legends in ballad form. The physical book has the most wonderful illustrations, and the audiobook is a pure joy to listen to. It really feels like being immersed in the deep waters of stories that are so at the root of British culture.
I like this reflection. I listened to moonbeaming, a podcast by Sarah Faith Gottessteiner. I always come away from that podcast with something helpful. Back in Jan, the pod was on the topic of media consumption. It blocks our intuition to be constantly flooded.
Thanks for writing 🙂 I just watched The Grim & The Dark, a documentary on grim dark art aesthetic and tabletop war games. A little outside my sphere of interest, but the art was really cool. I actually wished they had shown more artwork - there were stretches of time where people were just talking for many minutes with no visual breaks and I got bored. I thought, how flimsy my attention span has become. Have I become so shallow, my mind so fractured, that I, an artist, am getting bored hearing other artists talk about their art? But digital spaces can only connect us so much. We need real spaces to dig deep and express ourselves as well. We're all craving tactility and reality and quality time more than ever.
I just want to say that am very picky about who I follow and you are one of the people I look forward to checking in on! This post speaks on all the things I have been feeling lately and really needed to hear in organized words! Thank you for this thought journey it has helped me with my perspective on how media is influencing my brain!
Aw thank you that means a lot! I aim to only share what feels real and sometimes that’s harder than others 😅 glad this connected- it was good for me to process through too!
Really resonated with this post! I recently read Dopamine Kids by Michaleen Doucleff and, similar to a sentiment you expressed, it caused me to think a lot more about my own screen time than my kid’s because I already am very cautious about his screen use, less so about mine.
I learned from the book that dopamine gives us motivation but not satisfaction. That’s why we scroll on and on and feel icky afterwards. I have been trying to close the dopamine loop and find satisfaction after taking in media of any kind. My favorite experiment has been journaling 1-3 sentences after finishing a book rather than just hopping to the next. I find that even the most mindless books I read give me some fodder for reflection and it makes me feel way more satisfied than my usual ritual of logging the book on Storygraph and watching my stats change.
I’m an artist who was on a break for this exact reason. I found myself scrolling and comparing myself to others. “I know my art is good, why am I not growing like I want” I felt like I spent more time scrolling, getting overwhelmed, and not creating because of all the noise. I took a break because art markets were a struggle and growing online was even more of a struggle.
The other week I made a whimsical little home for my phone. It’s a cathedral wall with a pocket for me to leave my phone in and just live my life. Well, I made a video of it and got my first viral video. I went from 600 followers to almost 10k in two weeks. It’s exciting because I want to grow and cultivate a life where I can make art full-time but it just put all the clutter back into my brain.
1. The point of making the home for my phone was to get me off my phone…. The video going viral did the opposite.
2. How do I share my passion for art, home decor, fashion, food without adding to all the noise and over consumption?
It’s all so overwhelming and feels like a battle in my head. The constant scrolling “looking for inspiration” when I have a long list of ideas already written down. Social media this double edged sword that allows you to share your passions meet people who share those passions. Which is amazing. But it’s also so much selling and consuming.
I keep finding myself spiraling. Asking myself how can I grow and turn this love of creativity into a sustainable career for myself without being part of the problem and getting sucked into the problem like I always do.
Thank you for your post. It makes me feel a lot less alone. I know there’s so many of us just tired of the noise and wanting something different. Sorry for my long rant haha.
Thank you for saying all of this! I've been working so hard to finally let go of the doom scroll. This week I read Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen. She writes the most whimsical books. Making the mundane magical in the Southern US where food and magic are at the heart of every story. Her book Garden Spells was my first and remains an absolute favorite. Reading reminds me to choose whimsy. YOU remind me to choose whimsy. The content you've created is always so magical. Thank you, Eby for your honesty here. Stay whimsical!
I don’t have a piece of media to share, but just wanted to thank you for this post. I’ve also been feeling so overwhelmed by media and propaganda lately, and so much of what you wrote resonates with me. It’s so nice to read something so unmistakably human. I truly appreciate your presence online as a creator - thank you ❤️
Thank you for this piece, Ebby. It resonated--dealing with the same ADHD brain fog and chatter and push-pull relationship with social media as a self-employed creative over here, and it's always nice to hear that we are not alone in charting this new frontier. I think a lot about how we will look back in 50 years and think "gosh, we needed safeguards that just weren't available to us."
I do hope that we as a society will find ways to use the tools for world building that we do already have (like legislation) to make the new media landscape less addictive and less harmful to our malleable lil critter brains. In the meantime, I've been reading "The Right to Oblivion: Privacy and the Good Life" (topical) by Lowry Pressly, and it's been thought-provoking in a hopeful way. I recommend.
Yes to all if it!!! I find myself saying put down the phone April! Sometimes a quick look for information turns into an hour rabbit hole of stolen time. I tried to immerse myself in my garden this year....it's so rewarding to bring in my own food and dry my own herbs for the year. I'm also a knitter so I do have something to do while relaxing, sometimes I get so mad at myself when I get stuck in a scroll and it could have been an hour knitting. I hope you are right and more people are waking up to the effects of scrolling....I'm definitely here for participating in life and not just watching others.
This was my experience a number of months back too. It was bothering me so much that I left Instagram at the start of the year and I feel so much better for it. I expected to miss it but I really don't. Although there are a few friends whose updates I miss seeing. I do scroll Substack at times but I don't have the app on my phone so I can only 'intentionally' scroll when I sit down at my laptop, and Substack feels a bit different, it requires more focus and presence to read long-form writing I think.
I also relate to being strict with policing my daughter's screen time (she has barely any, save for an occasional documentary - she's 6) but being much more slack with my own. This was one of the things that pushed me to get off Instagram in fact, I don't want her to grow up thinking it's normal to have a parent on a screen so much of the time. I'm still working on it, but it's interesting to hear that I'm not the only one who has found this challenging!
Thank you for your honesty. I have been consciously choosing to put my phone on flight mode overnight so I can choose in the morning when I am ready to be contactable or online. Your content has brought me joy with your authenticity. Your content does not feel like consumption. Aside from this, I watch mandala painting videos as this is a new hobby of mine. Once I register I am on the doom scroll asmr train, I get off.
I have listened to The Four Agreements twice since seeing you got it for your bday. Your content is helpful and I feel the alignment with my current path, so thank you Ebby!
wow. wow. wow. wow. wow thank you for this, ebby. this is such a clear articulation of so much of what i'm feeling to. so thoughtful. okay you asked what piece of media i consumed that was more positive, and i'd say reading "yesteryear" (the physical book!) and also reading substack writers i adore which includes you.
Wow this hits home so hard Ebby!! Thank you for formulating all of this into words because this is exactly how I’ve been feeling too. I’m always so excited when you post, you are one of the only people who still feels genuinely authentic and real on social media. Your posts always make me smile and inspire. But that aside I do wonder how does she do it!? How does she post so much and film so much of her life and not go crazy!? I definitely don’t have it in me to be the content creator but always admired the ones who could… but reading this just reminds me like oh yeah, she’s human too and even through all her authentic posts she’s feeling the same way. We’re not alone in this. This topic is sooo important. Like truly our life depends on it. So thanks for sharing. I feel like I’ll come back to this post again and again to help remind me to take a breath and come back to what’s real.
Ooh also I just went to a local showing my friend put on. She is swimming the English channel next month, and brought together community to watch a movie about her hero, Trudy Ederle, the first documented woman to swim the channel. The Young Woman and The Sea. It was moving and exciting and connective to watch a movie as an event.
Not sure if music counts as media, but I have been listening to Riomas' new album Gather Your Resilience on repeat and I can FEEL it feeding my brain and body 😍🫠
This was such a wonderful read Ebby - I relate to this so hard! One thing I have enjoyed recently is Galahad and The Grail by Malcom Guite - it is the first of a four volume retelling of the Arthurian legends in ballad form. The physical book has the most wonderful illustrations, and the audiobook is a pure joy to listen to. It really feels like being immersed in the deep waters of stories that are so at the root of British culture.
I like this reflection. I listened to moonbeaming, a podcast by Sarah Faith Gottessteiner. I always come away from that podcast with something helpful. Back in Jan, the pod was on the topic of media consumption. It blocks our intuition to be constantly flooded.
Thanks for writing 🙂 I just watched The Grim & The Dark, a documentary on grim dark art aesthetic and tabletop war games. A little outside my sphere of interest, but the art was really cool. I actually wished they had shown more artwork - there were stretches of time where people were just talking for many minutes with no visual breaks and I got bored. I thought, how flimsy my attention span has become. Have I become so shallow, my mind so fractured, that I, an artist, am getting bored hearing other artists talk about their art? But digital spaces can only connect us so much. We need real spaces to dig deep and express ourselves as well. We're all craving tactility and reality and quality time more than ever.