Digital minimalism versus staying connected
For this month's Bearblog carnival Juni asks How do you stay connected while practicing digital minimalism, and how did you make the switch? which is something indieweb bloggers can definitely get their teeth into.
I never had to quit social media because I was never on social media. My digital minimalism is like my location in the Midlands - to many people I look like some sort of hermit whereas to actual digital minimalists I'm one of the hopelessly compromised by the system, unsecured sheeple.
How do I stay connected with people without any of that? With difficulty. It's harder to be connected. Even if those connections can be harmful or superficial.
It's hard to find things without social media. It's wild to me how many businesses only have a social media presence, not a website. Or the website points to social media for important stuff like menus or opening times.
Clubs, groups and so on... Good luck finding an up-to-date website for them! I lean on my wife here - she's not particularly active on social media but she does have accounts and she'll mention interesting things to me from the local Facebook group or whatever.
WhatsApp is fully ubiquitous in the UK, over texting. I use it strictly as a messaging app. I'm only in groups with people I have been in a room with offline. I don't know all the people super well but we have met. I can't even figure out how you use WhatsApp otherwise, but apparently people very much do. I make liberal use of the mute option.
Discord and the like I tend to keep off my phone. On my tablet or laptop, no notifications. Just a little bit of separation, a bit of distance. I'm not a heavy user anyway but I'm part of some lovely communities that I appreciate.
I have very few notifications on my phone generally and my phone is always on silent. My phone being on silent is a joke amongst my family. My sister even got me a birthday card of two antelope trying to phone another to warn them about being stalked by a lion. Phone's on silent, shrug.
That's part of the intentionality of Juni's prompt I guess. I use my phone a lot so I pick up whatever I need to pretty quickly - except when I'm not using my phone, which is a deliberate choice or a necessity and I don't need interrupting. My phone is pretty barebones - the least amount of apps I can get away with, five icons in the tray on my homescreen. And I keep an eye on myself. If I find myself checking for messages a lot it's a sign I'm getting a bit twitchy anxious and I need to slow down.
At the same time, I think the connections that can hold out are stronger ones. And this is just me, what suits my situation and temperament. Everyone has to find their own balance and what works best for them.
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