I have similar feelings that I can compare to my passion for music. I can hear a song that triggers an emotional response because of something in my life that makes me feel the connection. I particularly like artists who break musical rules, which points me back to The Beatles. I am a first generation Beatles fan, and I am learning to play some of their music. They often took the road less traveled, and broke music theory rules all the time. Whenever I need a shot of joy in my life, I go back and listen to the first song they played on American television - All My Loving. The joy is palpable, and takes my mind off of the news and social media noise. Running did that for me too. My distance running days are over because of a condition in my knee. I miss it terribly, but I have been truly blessed with 10 years of training and racing, along with the countless friends I have made along the way. Music gives me the same kind of joy.
Count me in! I have only one newsletter I get and that is yours. I'm not on Social Media. Never have been a junkie. As of this week, I've decided the computer and news go off after I check my email, which is very little. Time to take off the digital blinders and go on a new adventure!
Not sure if it was my age or some spidey sense - red flags was all I saw going well back in time. My day job is in corp America and I have Human Resources responsibilities. Knowing,, from the inside, how a company might be able to misuse information found from a cursory search on social media platforms was all I needed to know about social media. Flashing red lights - stay away…. I have no idea of what I may have missed all these years. I have no FOMO. I also have been spared all the falsely curated lives of people posting. My actual friends share in real time. Actual family invite me to dinner. Colleagues and such pick up the phone. In this age of diluted communications I have opted to travel to see friends and share in their lives - often around a race or a business trip. I fully encourage disengaging from the artifice of the digital world and gleefully diving deep back into the tangible world where you can look someone in the eyes and see their smiles or even frowns - vs. all the jibber jabber on these platforms. Terrell, I cannot recall what the impetus may have been for me to subscribe to the blog. I am happy I did. It’s granular and thoughtful. And I appreciate the content and the intent of your efforts. More of these sort of exchanges and less of facebook, or insta, or twitter…. As we have been learning over months - the algo’s are nefarious in their objective and the platforms don’t care about much except selling your information. Life is really quite bountiful in the actual space vs the virtual.
I'm totally in. Something you said a couple weeks ago stuck in my mind. You talked about how Instagram was, essentially, boring. I knew I checked it compulsively and got diminishing returns (if any returns), but something about thinking of it as plainly as that -- boring -- was really effective. (I have this whole other side monologue about how something similar happened when I stopped drinking -- like a lot happened but ultimately some part of me realized that my drinking was just ... boring. It was making my life repetitive and boring.) Anyway, with social media I did this goofy thing where I dragged the Instagram icon to the last page of my apps, to see if making it marginally harder to open would have any effect. It didn't at first, but then it did and now I'm rarely checking it, and I find I don't miss it at all. So I feel totally primed to make a leap.
Yes. I am going to do this. I just spent two weeks visiting family and barely looked at my phone or the news. It felt so good. I'm going to take it a day at a time.
YES! I am up for joining you. I think we are not really aware of the emotional roller coaster social media takes us on. It will be interesting to see if I can tell the difference in my mood, patience, contentedness. Looking forward to it. Thanks for the challenge and for articulating the importance of this challenge so well.
As I finished writing my Instagram post for tomorrow morning (where I talk about pulling back from social) your newsletter was delivered! And your headline made me read it right away. So, yes, I'm totally with you Terrell! After I post tomorrow, of course. Haha. I mention you in it so thank you in advance for the additional inspiration to "turn it off". And, I feel like my mind is a lot like a squirrel...
I think this is one of the reasons my running is so important to me. I live and run in the country. Nature is my music. It's that reconnecting with your own thoughts and the environment around me.
Loved this reminder. Count me in too! I intentionally disconnect from my phone, news and social media at times and would like to do so even more. During these times it is easier to be in the present, enjoying the people and places actually in my life. I find the more time I spend off my phone and off social media the more vibrant my own life becomes. I focus on living; instead of observing, looking down at my device or comparing to others. Time much better spent :)
Our gift of life is meant to be experienced directly with all five senses and more. Our culture has us living it vicariously. We have subcontracted our experience of life to bits & bytes. Runners are not spectators. We have chosen to take the road less traveled. Never give up your freedom to live the life you choose. Just make sure you choose it and not some algorithm!!!!!
P.S. I knew the Orlean family many years ago in Cleveland. They were so interesting, unpretentious and always ready for the next adventure!
P.P.S. Suggestion… start a Sunrise tribe in your neighborhood. Meet up at Sunrise each day and run with your tribe. You won’t regret honoring the commitment and connecting with people who love what you love.
Social media fries my poor brain. I don't even do Instagram, twitter, etc, but Facebook and emails are still enough to send me overboard! I don't watch TV or even listen to music or podcasts while I run. It seems like just too much chatter! Wish I could get off all devices, especially the phone, which accompanies the vast majority of us day and night. Remember those days when we really could "get away from it all"?
Years ago I signed up for Facebook to get some photos from a half marathon I’d run. I then forgot about it (except for all these friend invites which I never responded to (apologies to all my friends)). Then I lost my password. Then I moved and closed that email account. And that’s been that. No Facebook. No social media. No distractions. Whew!
I have similar feelings that I can compare to my passion for music. I can hear a song that triggers an emotional response because of something in my life that makes me feel the connection. I particularly like artists who break musical rules, which points me back to The Beatles. I am a first generation Beatles fan, and I am learning to play some of their music. They often took the road less traveled, and broke music theory rules all the time. Whenever I need a shot of joy in my life, I go back and listen to the first song they played on American television - All My Loving. The joy is palpable, and takes my mind off of the news and social media noise. Running did that for me too. My distance running days are over because of a condition in my knee. I miss it terribly, but I have been truly blessed with 10 years of training and racing, along with the countless friends I have made along the way. Music gives me the same kind of joy.
Count me in! I have only one newsletter I get and that is yours. I'm not on Social Media. Never have been a junkie. As of this week, I've decided the computer and news go off after I check my email, which is very little. Time to take off the digital blinders and go on a new adventure!
Not sure if it was my age or some spidey sense - red flags was all I saw going well back in time. My day job is in corp America and I have Human Resources responsibilities. Knowing,, from the inside, how a company might be able to misuse information found from a cursory search on social media platforms was all I needed to know about social media. Flashing red lights - stay away…. I have no idea of what I may have missed all these years. I have no FOMO. I also have been spared all the falsely curated lives of people posting. My actual friends share in real time. Actual family invite me to dinner. Colleagues and such pick up the phone. In this age of diluted communications I have opted to travel to see friends and share in their lives - often around a race or a business trip. I fully encourage disengaging from the artifice of the digital world and gleefully diving deep back into the tangible world where you can look someone in the eyes and see their smiles or even frowns - vs. all the jibber jabber on these platforms. Terrell, I cannot recall what the impetus may have been for me to subscribe to the blog. I am happy I did. It’s granular and thoughtful. And I appreciate the content and the intent of your efforts. More of these sort of exchanges and less of facebook, or insta, or twitter…. As we have been learning over months - the algo’s are nefarious in their objective and the platforms don’t care about much except selling your information. Life is really quite bountiful in the actual space vs the virtual.
Love the thought! Gonna try, easier for me than most [I think] as I see it all days wit my students an, continually, tell them somewhat similar...
I'm totally in. Something you said a couple weeks ago stuck in my mind. You talked about how Instagram was, essentially, boring. I knew I checked it compulsively and got diminishing returns (if any returns), but something about thinking of it as plainly as that -- boring -- was really effective. (I have this whole other side monologue about how something similar happened when I stopped drinking -- like a lot happened but ultimately some part of me realized that my drinking was just ... boring. It was making my life repetitive and boring.) Anyway, with social media I did this goofy thing where I dragged the Instagram icon to the last page of my apps, to see if making it marginally harder to open would have any effect. It didn't at first, but then it did and now I'm rarely checking it, and I find I don't miss it at all. So I feel totally primed to make a leap.
Yes. I am going to do this. I just spent two weeks visiting family and barely looked at my phone or the news. It felt so good. I'm going to take it a day at a time.
Great stuff. I never realized how different it is to search for something that interests you vs. having the algorithm pick it for you.
I remember when I quit smoking I couldn't stop eating cashews because they tasted so good. Thanks again brother.
YES! I am up for joining you. I think we are not really aware of the emotional roller coaster social media takes us on. It will be interesting to see if I can tell the difference in my mood, patience, contentedness. Looking forward to it. Thanks for the challenge and for articulating the importance of this challenge so well.
I joined Facebook at its beginning years ago but closed the account few years late and have not joined any social media since.
I read a lot. Spend most of free time with family, friends and nature.
I don't watch TV or read the news. I like listening to NPR when driving and sometimes at home.
I don't feel disconnected to the world for living as I do.
FYI: I'm an IT girl for a major technology corporation.
Go figure!
As I finished writing my Instagram post for tomorrow morning (where I talk about pulling back from social) your newsletter was delivered! And your headline made me read it right away. So, yes, I'm totally with you Terrell! After I post tomorrow, of course. Haha. I mention you in it so thank you in advance for the additional inspiration to "turn it off". And, I feel like my mind is a lot like a squirrel...
Totally agree with you, Terrell!
I think this is one of the reasons my running is so important to me. I live and run in the country. Nature is my music. It's that reconnecting with your own thoughts and the environment around me.
Thanks for another great newsletter!
Loved this reminder. Count me in too! I intentionally disconnect from my phone, news and social media at times and would like to do so even more. During these times it is easier to be in the present, enjoying the people and places actually in my life. I find the more time I spend off my phone and off social media the more vibrant my own life becomes. I focus on living; instead of observing, looking down at my device or comparing to others. Time much better spent :)
Our gift of life is meant to be experienced directly with all five senses and more. Our culture has us living it vicariously. We have subcontracted our experience of life to bits & bytes. Runners are not spectators. We have chosen to take the road less traveled. Never give up your freedom to live the life you choose. Just make sure you choose it and not some algorithm!!!!!
P.S. I knew the Orlean family many years ago in Cleveland. They were so interesting, unpretentious and always ready for the next adventure!
P.P.S. Suggestion… start a Sunrise tribe in your neighborhood. Meet up at Sunrise each day and run with your tribe. You won’t regret honoring the commitment and connecting with people who love what you love.
Social media fries my poor brain. I don't even do Instagram, twitter, etc, but Facebook and emails are still enough to send me overboard! I don't watch TV or even listen to music or podcasts while I run. It seems like just too much chatter! Wish I could get off all devices, especially the phone, which accompanies the vast majority of us day and night. Remember those days when we really could "get away from it all"?
Great post! Thoughtful and so true.
Years ago I signed up for Facebook to get some photos from a half marathon I’d run. I then forgot about it (except for all these friend invites which I never responded to (apologies to all my friends)). Then I lost my password. Then I moved and closed that email account. And that’s been that. No Facebook. No social media. No distractions. Whew!