Lately, I’ve been very disorganized. Days go by in a blur without accomplishing much. The previous trial descending into social media certainly didn’t help. In an attempt to combat this, I’m looking to a habit I’ve seen others use to organize their day, the bullet journal.
What is a Bullet Journal and Why Do It?
A bullet journal has nothing to do with firearms, but instead it is a flexible planning system. The name comes from the use of a dotted grid across paper instead of the conventional horizontal lines.
There is an official system created by Ryder Carroll with it’s own book. However, the beauty in the system is that it is fully customizable. If there is something that feels unnecessary or missing, an individual’s journal can serve their specific needs. After all, the journal is really just a bunch of dots on a page.
The journal consists largely of sections for a given day. Within that section the plans for the day are declared. It can also serve as a tracker in a variety of ways: habits, mood, and energy to name a few.
The past few weeks, I’ve had a few days go by feeling unaccomplished and still somehow tired. By introducing the planning process of the bullet journal, I hope to give myself direction and purpose each day, even if that purpose is to take time to properly rest. Building the skeleton of a structured day can help make the time needed for relaxation.
A practice at my day job that started a few months ago has been to send a plan for the day to managers. I think it helps to declare some intent for a given day, even if the unexpected derails plans completely. Applying this to my day-to-day life may very well prove more unpredictable, but I think planning and recording the accomplishments of the day will benefit not only the day ahead but also my weekly review session.
The Progress So Far
While taking a few minutes in the morning sounds like a simple introduction to a morning routine, it’s been somewhat difficult to build the habit thus far and I have admittedly missed a couple of days already. I’m trying to find a good way to build it off another existing habit, like getting coffee or the aforementioned work email, but my mornings typically consist of waking up and getting hands on in work right away.
For a while now, I’ve also used my white board for jotting down some tasks for a day or week. Doing this makes it easy to pick out a to-do when I think of them, but lacks the intentionality of the bullet journal.
I use some of the elements of the official bullet journal method as described by its creator, but I also lean more heavily on another similar system created by CGP Grey that he calls the Theme Journal. I really like the theme element as it helps provide direction for another piece from the journal, the one true to-do, as I’ll call it. It is the true priority of the day. The one thing that should be completed before the day ends.
One other difference I have is that I’m using a general notes app called Squid Ink for this. I didn’t want to buy a book and have to write things in ink while I’m figuring out the style I want to go with. Also, I bring my tablet with me pretty much wherever I go so it’s always with me. I see the benefits of a physical book for this, and perhaps will even try that out in the future. For now, I’m sticking with the app.
The good and the bad both come from the same roots.
This trial started out as less of an issue than I expected. I found myself seeing some interesting posts from friends and family. As time went on, I found myself constantly wasting time on various platforms, especially Twitter. Admittedly, the experience wasn’t as bad as I really expected, but after diving in the deep end, I think it can be easier to use some of the tools and practices I mentioned a few weeks ago to have a healthier participation with these platforms.
The Good
After a lot of time isolated, these platforms offer an easy way to catch up with family and friends. Even after things settle into what we previously called normal, social media offers updates on a variety of people from my life, and I think it’s a nice opportunity to see how things are going for those people.
This trial was also the nudge I needed to finally watch the documentary The Social Dilemma. It was interesting and offered a lot to learn. There are insights from industry insiders that have left me thinking, especially the resources available on the Center for Humane Technology.
The Bad
A lot of the challenges I find with social media involve the flood of information, possibly more so when it’s the truth. While disinformation and fake news are a serious problem, there are times when the overwhelming amount of news and updates available can be challenging. There is even a term for the endless abyss that platforms, especially Twitter, have for bad news – doom scrolling.
Even outside of doom scrolling, social media can become a terrible time sink. There’s always another post to see just a slide of the finger away. It might be a funny joke or insightful thought, and it’s just below the last one.
The Future
In an attempt to limit the negatives in social media, I hope to implement a number of ideas from my post a few weeks ago. In particular, I think the use of the chrome addon Newsfeed Eradicator to block the home pages of various social media sites will be extremely useful. That way I can still access the sites and look for specific people or updates when I’m interested.
I don’t necessarily plan to delete any accounts, though it has been something I’ve toyed with for the future. For the time being, I don’t see that my usage of these platforms has led to net negatives in my life.
With a path laid out for future social media use and this trial complete, it’s time for the next one. Something I started at the beginning of the month was bullet journaling. In typical fashion, I stopped keeping up with it after only a few days. I really liked the rough plan I made for the month of April, so with the new month around the corner, I’m hoping to do the same again with the addition of daily planning.
This week opens a new door in writing for me, a sort of review and discussion on the ideas of a documentary. I felt in the midst of this social media expedition, I should watch Netflix’s The Social Dilemma, the documentary that drove a friend to delete his Facebook immediately after. First, a brief update.
The Brief Update
Admittedly, there isn’t much to update on this week. More time online hasn’t led to some new ascendant thought. I find myself procrastinating more as I spend time scrolling through sites in some gaps.
The biggest problem I’ve seen is how quickly time on social media is lost. What can start as a brief scroll can turn into several minutes looking for the next interesting post.
I did have a bit of an escape this weekend while working on a Game Jam project with some friends. With all my time and attention focused on getting the game wrapped up in a short period of time, I didn’t get my planned 30 minutes per day.
At a Glance
The documentary was produced by Exposure Labs and distributed on Netflix. The production has a number of partners including Mozilla and the Center for Humane Tech. The latter of which had a number of leaders appearing in the film, though I think there was someone from Mozilla as well.
The film went from interviews with various experts, including ex-insiders and activists, to a short film about this family and the members’ experiences with technology.
I found the family narrative often worked pretty well to show a slightly dramatized version of what was being discussed. For example, shortly after discussing how algorithms exist on pretty much all of these sites to learn what they can about you, we are introduced to this set of AI characters.
One scene I got a kick out of is a part where the son is trying to avoid his phone for a week. The AI characters are freaking out trying to get him to open something and come up with a plot to show him updates about an ex-girlfriend. As the son makes his way into the kitchen, it is shot like a horror movie scene. He enters alone into a dark kitchen. The camera looms behind him as suspenseful music begins to rise, but instead of a slasher making a deadly strike, his phone chimes and the screen lights up.
To provide a quick review, I found the film itself to be an enjoyable watch. The camera was often changing enough to keep a feeling of change without being distracting. The editing went largely unnoticed, which while unappreciated, I think shows that it was a great edit. The narrative was engaging enough to keep me interested even when the family took a backseat to a series of interviews, to return later. The points made by the interviews and family narrative worked well together to emphasize the points being made. All in all, I recommend checking it out, especially if you like interview focused documentaries.
Regarding the interviews with the experts, there was a lot to take away. I wrote notes while watching and after typing out my scribbles ended up with three single spaced pages.
Exploring the Ideas
There were more specific points brought up in the film, but looking through my notes, these were some of the main ideas I took away:
The Current Business Model of Many Tech Platforms is Harmful
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “if you don’t pay for the product, you are the product.” The primary way that a lot of websites make money is through advertisements which require your attention to sell.
The documentary outlined the general model of these platforms as engagement, growth, then advertising. By driving the first two points, engagement and growth, ads become a viable way to make money.
There is a lot of concern about the sale of data, but from what the documentary explored, the sale of that information isn’t really the reason it’s collected. Your data is collected so that these platforms can learn more about you.
Because of this, the algorithms that drive what content you see are designed to get clicks and encourage you to share with others.
I do find it interesting, and sadly lacking, that the film pretty heavily critiques recommendation based algorithms on free platforms but not really those on paid platforms such as Netflix. I don’t know if there was interference from Netflix as the distributor or if the concerns of these experts are focused solely on the platforms that offer a free service through data collection and advertising.
The Spread of Disinformation
We’ve all probably grown tired of the term fake news, but the reality is that it is seemingly impossible to know the truth. With the aforementioned algorithms, we’ve become a more polarized society. Algorithms are deciding what to share with whom.
Depending on what data a site has about you, it will recommend different results than someone else. I think this is displayed pretty well on the website TheirTube, which shows the recommendations shown to a variety of groups based on a few source channels.
This doesn’t just apply to YouTube videos, unfortunately. This goes for Tweets, Facebook posts, and even Google search results. Practically all these platforms are built on sharing a specific feed to you directly.
The Future Doesn’t Look Great on Our Current Path
Now for the really scary part. The path we’ve laid for ourselves is not looking great. Not only has disinformation destroyed our shared understanding of reality, the generations growing up in this tech driven society are experiencing more direct harm.
The Center for Humane Technology shares a list of the problems caused by these tech platforms, and those listed under the “The Next Generations” are quite alarming. From increasing stats in self-harm to falling stats in social skills and interactions, things appear to only be getting worse. The page contains sources for all the claims.
At the end of the day, it’s not all doom and gloom. The documentary ends with some tips on how to better engage with technology as it becomes more and more integrated in our lives, including some that I shared last week. I’ve updated the post to include some additional ideas after watching:
Determine an amount of time you want to spend on devices and set up rules to stick to that number. This also goes for children, ask them what they believe is a reasonable amount of time and work with them on setting up the systems needed to reach that.
While not so much reducing use, but making a platform’s environment better for you, keep in mind that you always “vote with your click.” If you click on a post, page, or link, some algorithm is going to show you more content like that in hopes of getting more clicks.
The real solution as discussed in the documentary is regulation of tech industries. While the documentary doesn’t go into detail on the policies recommended, the Center for Humane Technology has made a page outlining propositions.
In looking into more information, I learned a lot on the Center for Humane Tech’s website, as well as an additional documentary on the subject of algorithms, facial recognition, and big tech. I also see the filmmakers have two additional documentaries on climate change that are now on my watch list.
I highly recommend checking out the documentary if you have access to Netflix. If the documentary or reading this post has inspired you to delete some of your social media accounts and that’s how you see when I post, feel free to subscribe or just drop by Fridays, as posts are up Thursday nights in the U.S. Central time zone.
The past few days have really shown me the down sides of social media I’ve long heard of. I found myself mindlessly scrolling feeling some sense of entertainment, while not really absorbing any of the words I was ready. In this post though, I’m planning on sharing ways that I’ve found to help with handling social media.
But First, An Update
As mentioned in the introduction, I’ve been getting empty satisfaction from scrolling through social media, especially Twitter. Overall, I’ve been pretty burnt out the past few days, and the mindless scroll offered by Twitter and Facebook have helped me feel like I’m becoming informed, when in reality it’s not providing much.
Another factor that I think has left social media feeling more empty was seeing family and friends while home. Before heading back, seeing what some people were up to through their posts was a nice way of catching up, but with the recent feel of physical interaction, I wasn’t getting that same buzz of prior social media sessions.
Best Practices
Before we touch on tools and technology to assist with the use of social media, there are a few simple techniques that can be implemented to cut down on time spent.
Turn off push notifications
While they can be helpful for important alerts, push notifications can be a slippery slope into countless distractions. I may want to know when an important message comes in, but not when some stranger on the internet liked a Tweet.
Erect Barriers to Entry
The longer it takes to access something, the more less likely you are to look at it. Scrolling through Twitter becomes easy when all you have to do is tap an icon or type “T” into the web bar.
By setting up barriers, such as not having apps available or signing out of your accounts before leaving, there’s a little extra work that goes into accessing your feed. If opening Twitter leads to a login page and not an endless feed of opinions, it might stop you from falling down a rabbithole.
Use Twitter Lists, Not the Home Page
The Twitter home page has become a black hole for my time lately. Luckily, finding an alternative was easy, as it’s built right into the site. Lists on Twitter are a way to group accounts into a single feed. Perhaps you want to view posts by some friends without seeing the latest news story from a more politically active account. You can create a list of just those you want to see.
Tools to Terminate
If the above techniques aren’t enough to reduce your social media use, perhaps a more strict approach is necessary. Several of the extensions and services below are what I’ve used before this trial in order to share my posts without much direct interaction on social media sites.
This extension and service allows for posting updates to several sites with a single push of a button. For years now, I’ve used Buffer to post to my accounts without having to log in to each. It’s a great way to still post online without the risk of getting swept up in the latest trends and stories.
I’ve long used this extension to block the Facebook home page, as Facebook is the one site I log into directly to share posts due to its lack of integration with Buffer. However, I recently discovered it’s available on several other sites including Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, and more. If you need a solution to reduce use of a site, but still access it for notifications or direct posts, I definitely recommend this.
There’s even the ability to temporarily allow access for a few minutes or up to a full day should that be needed.
If the above aren’t able to help, you can totally pull the plug on these sites and add them to a site blocker. The one I use, although I seldom do, is called StayFocused. It’s simple and it gets the job done. There are a variety out there, so if this one isn’t right for you, there are plenty of alternatives.
If you find yourself spending too much time on social media, try any of the above techniques or tools and let me know in the comments how it works out!
If my planning was better, I would have been more clever with a post landing on April Fools’ Day. Instead I’m writing a genuine post about increasing my social media use.
Why Do This?
For the past few years, I’ve seen a variety of people have to take breaks from social media for mental health and productivity reasons. Their use of it led to stress and anxiety that only pulling the plug seemed to resolve.
While I’ve had social media accounts since MySpace made it’s way around middle school, and made a Facebook and Twitter as those started to gain popularity. As the years passed, I used them less and less.
Today, I really only use my accounts to share these posts or other projects I’m working on. I’ll rarely share some random thought that comes to mind, but those are few and far between.
While it can be a slippery slope into a vat of toxicity, I’d like to start using social media more often – keeping up with posts from others and getting my voice out there more. I want to see what happens as I throw more thoughts out into the void.
Low Information Diet
Without intending, I’ve long followed the “low information diet.” Rather than totally re-hash the points made by Mr. Money Mustache in the aforementioned post, I’ll summarize.
Consume and focus on information that requires immediate action, such as changing health guidelines or laws that affect your day-to-day life. This post back from 2013 was needed as much then, if not more now in the hyper-informed world we live in.
For years now, I really haven’t tried to keep up with too much news that was happening. I followed major events and those that impacted me directly. Doing this helped me focus on a few things and put more emotional investment and support those, whether it was a simple fundraiser I supported or a story that would influence my decisions when it came to voting.
The Good and The Bad
While it could be easy to say, “social media is all bad,” that wouldn’t shed light on the good that I’m seeing on various sites.
I’ve seen a lot of great posts from family and friends I don’t always get the opportunity to keep up with. Seeing pictures or even just a few words on what’s going on in their neck of the woods puts a smile on my face.
I even had a lot of fun earlier in the week with Snapchat, an app I consider social media. After a number of hilarious moments in my day, I was able to send pictures out to some friends and family to share that experience with them.
Of course, it can’t be ignored that social media also platforms a bombardment of news, trolls, and negativity which can be fueled by a single post. The first few days I was checking Twitter more often, I felt like I was in full sprint trying to keep up with news and trends that felt weeks old by the time I got to the next story. Keeping up with it all can be mentally and emotionally taxing.
Trying Out Before Buying In 