WITH social media bringing the thoughts of friends, family, and acquaintances right inside your bedroom, your office, and even during meals (for those who can’t put down their smartphones even for a moment while eating), you realize that a lot of people do sweat the small stuff. Or… maybe it’s because they can’t think of anything else to post, but post they must? I don’t know. But the small stuff are what comprise a big chunk of social media.
Comes the realization that just like turning off your phone, or at least putting it down, you also have to moderate what you receive. There’s the unfollow and the block options that has been very useful to me of late as more and more turn to trolling and ranting.
It has never been this “noisy” in my life. Imagine, you are there, all alone in your bed just waiting for sleepiness to set in when you open your Facebook, and find more than 20 notifications, at least ten messages, a whole day’s conversation of friends in group messages, and more status updates that grab your attention. All conversations going on all at the same time, and even answering two to three will tie you down for an hour or more, an hour or more wasted, actually, because among the throngs and threads of conversations going on only one or two have bearing on your work.
I noticed time wasted, zipping fast, filled with noise. When the noise went on till past midnight, I decided to shut it all down.
Admittedly, I’m still under rehabilitation. Self-rehab. I force myself to stick to just one hour in the morning after waking up to check on the SunStar Davao Facebook page. The evening ritual is to actually turn off the smart phone after bantering with friends. In that way, there is not tendency to be awakened by the “ping” sound of an incoming message.
In the age of communication, we have to learn when to shut out the communication and let our brains rest. Humans, even animals, were not designed to keep on making sounds. We were designed to interact with those around us. But technology has allowed us to reach all around the world in all kinds of time zones, we do not have to be awake and involved in all such conversations. Turn it off, enjoy the quiet, and allow your body and your senses to be refreshed.
Imagine all those ranting and the trolls. Imagine waking up to so much negativity and going to sleep with negativity as the last thoughts in your mind. How much negativity can you take?
I decided not to find out and thus I am learning to turn it off. I have a long way to go, but I’m slowly getting there. In the past month, I have picked up my guitar once more, and yes, the paintbrushes. That is already a step forward.
Mind is a door that leads you outside in the world; meditation is the door that leads you to your interiority—to the very innermost shrine of your being. ~Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
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