Your Most Vital Asset
For years I worried about the effect of my eyes as I exposed them to an Instagram scroll first thing in the morning. Nothing would quite wake me up like a cocktail of humor, nosiness, intrigue and shame. In much later years, this cocktail morphed into a straight shot of horror. I would feel guilt being on there and guilt being away.
I need to be informed. I need to know how to help or change or do something. But, besides share a post and send some money- was I doing anything?
I got off Facebook right after the first Trump inauguration and never looked back. I would feel that same pull to get rid of Instagram, but couldn’t quite release it. Not only had it turned into a news source (I trust Nashville Severe Weather more than the literal weather channel), I am a small business needing to promote events and products. Yet- my body hated it.
I started taking Tiktok seriously a few years ago. It really helped build my confidence and community. Until Tiktok, I didn’t personally know a lot of tarot readers and astrologers. It gave me peers, teachers, students and clients. For me, the content I was being fed was silly, informative, beautiful or interesting. I was joining causes and learning actionable ways to help instead of drowning in the suffering. My awareness, skills and business all grew. I loved TikTok AND I knew I was spending too much time there.
This past weekend, quickly after getting the news that Instagram is no longer fact checking or removing harmful content, we got a bait-and switch from Trump around TikTok. We were told it was banned, then that he “saved” it, only to return to some weird clone of the original app. It was sending me MAGA content that literally never touched my “For You” page before the ban. The vibes are off. I deleted Tiktok.
Then I remembered the first two yoga sutras:
The Yoga Sutras are a series of Vedic texts written by Patanjali between the 2nd century BCE and the 5th century CE. They are the books that explain Yoga.
1.1: Yoga is now. Every time I think or read this yoga sutra, it brings me back into my body. It empowers me to make a choice of how to spend this moment. It reminds me that this moment is both tangible and elusive. It is a brick I am building my future with. I forget that I have this power all the time.
1.2: Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuation of the mind. To me, this means yoga where we fix our attention. What we decide to bring into the now. This isn’t a spiritual bypass of what we don’t want- it’s the discernment of where to put our energy to do the next, right thing. When I’m present, I can choose where I put my attention. When I’m distracted (in a fluctuating mind), that choice gets made for me. This is the intention and action behind all that present-moment-future-building from 1.1.
Then, it hit me. I was letting my attention- my most vital asset- be taken from me.
The North Star of Instagram is outrage. When I noticed Tiktok going in the same direction, I was out. In the United States, our most prominent social media platforms have been taken over by people wanting to promote hate, isolation and fear. I am no longer interested in giving my valuable resources to them.
Here’s what I am doing instead:
The first thing I did when I deleted TikTok was sign up for a composting service. These two actions are related- I promise. Our family did a great job composting at our first home. We had a good yard for it and the right kind of tools and systems to compost easily. In our new house, we don’t have the same backyard space, and despite my best efforts, we couldn’t get into the habit of composting. I often give my dog food scraps, but with every eggshell and leftover that goes into the trash, my heart aches. I think of the fires in L.A. and the unprecedented cold winter I am experiencing in Tennessee. It was the same feeling I get when I’m on Instagram. A bad habit with worse results. I know I can’t do this on my own, so I am going to ask for help. Compost Nashville is a small business that directly helps my community. Instead of doing a little thing multiple times a day that feels bad and likely doesn’t make the world that much better, is being replaced with a little thing multiple times a day that is doing a little less harm. 🤷🏻♀️
Is there something you have been wanting to implement into your life that could make a small but good impact? If you, too, are deleting apps- do you have a library card? Have you waved to a neighbor? Have you visited your local (insert favorite hobby here) store?
Following trusted activists here. One thing that kept me on Instagram for so long was the desire to “stay informed”. The reality, is that I would notice “information” would start to regurgitate and morph like a game of telephone every time I would see it. There are a few folks I really trust in different spaces. When it comes to social justice, especially around tech issues, I see what YK Hong is saying. They recently wrote this piece here. I follow to stay tuned without all the other noise. Obviously, there are many brilliant activists on this site. Feel free to leave their names in the comments.
Shifting shifting news sources to podcasts or websites. I would sometimes roll my eyes at how far The Daily or Today, Explained felt behind my social media feed. Now, I long to hear a news story only once. Yes, I need to know that Elon Musk did a Nazi solute at Trump’s inauguration. No, I don’t need to hear hundreds of discourses around that to know it is disgusting and terrifying. I fear we have lost the ability to trust ourselves with the amount of input we hear about one subject.
Building mazes for marbles with my kid. On top of the grief of our country’s new leaders spewing hate, my family was sick all weekend. So, my kid and I got really into those things you build out of tubes and watch marbles go through. You know what I’m talking about. Like any addict, that kind of activity would typically make my fingers itch for a scroll about an hour or so in. It is something I am aware and not so proud of. My disgust was so overpowered around social media, the choice was as simple as it always should have been. We put a record on and got to building. It was so fun. Honestly, this is probably definitely for the best. I have been wasting my attention on trash when I have such magic in front me.
I’m sure there will be masses of think pieces like this about quitting social media over the next few days? Weeks? Months? And- like elated sharing of any new encouraging habit- I welcome it. One of the ways we have power is in our attention. The more of us that decide to put our attention to things that literally support our communities, families and activists- great. Thank you for giving me a little slice of your most valuable asset and remind you how powerful it is. Let’s use our power to promote love, togetherness and hope. We get to choose the future for this world- so let’s do it- one tiny moment of attention at a time.
