At times, everything tires you out, annoys you, and gets on your nerves.
During these periods, which can last anywhere from half an hour to two days, you want to be alone and hope that no one needs you to do anything or that no one will come and talk to you about anything that requires even the slightest bit of thought.
You avoid going out because going out means meeting people who will greet you, talk to you, ask you questions... and, without meaning to, without it being their fault, get on your nerves. Not because what they say isn't interesting, but because it takes too much effort just to talk about the weather, let alone anything else... So you isolate yourself and only go out when you feel like it or when you have to. Anyway, you don't really want to go out.
It's pretty cool. Want to sleep? You sleep. Want to eat? You eat. Want to work, watch a movie, or just chill? Go ahead...
Social lockdown
The second step was the “SochiawlNetweurk” lockdown. I quickly (in January?) turned off all notifications on my Android and found it so cool that I'm going to keep it that way from now on. It's like getting rid of a Pavlovian addiction. It rings, you look, it rings again, you look again, it rings again, and so on. Now it doesn't ring anymore, you only check four or five times a day, and that's fine.
At the same time, you don't post much anymore, and not necessarily the usual stuff. The result is immediate: you get even more notifications than usual, most of them from the network itself trying to get you interested in what others are posting: “So-and-so reacted to a post by What's-her-name that you might find interesting,” “What's-his-name and Ben-Hur posted new stories. Watch now?” This is an admission of weakness that proves, if proof were needed, that you need FB, IG, and the others less than they need you, preferably active.
This withdrawal from social networks has brought to light things that you knew, suspected, or sensed, and which hit you in the face as soon as you stepped back: the general lack of interest in creativity, the pointless controversies, the number of “sponsored” posts, the narrow-mindedness of certain circles, the decline in the ability to engage in dialogue, to understand what others are saying, to analyze, to decode, to flush out trolls. In short, for those who are interested, yes, distancing yourself from social media feeds on itself just like addiction does; it's the same process in reverse. I probably won't cut myself off completely, but I'll definitely be less active in the future.
Black & White
Another funny experiment: I set my phone to black and white. It's crazy how much less time you want to waste on it. And it doesn't stop you from working on it. In fact, people look better in black and white on video calls. I only switch back to color to take photos or videos, and that's just for me because I don't have to: the black and white only affects the display, so photos are in color even if I take them with my phone set to black and white. A nice side effect is that I can go up to 84 hours (3.5 days) on one charge, which is 10 to 15 hours more battery life.
You realize that you don't constantly need all that background noise. I like being a spectator in life in general; I much prefer watching things happen than doing them myself. I'm the kind of guy who never gets bored, even when I'm doing nothing, sitting somewhere, even when I let my thoughts appear, slip away and disappear, like paper boats on a stream, without even really examining them. I often remind people that being bored is a reflexive verb, like cutting yourself or entertaining yourself. When you cut yourself while cooking, you're the one who gets hurt; when you're bored, it's the same thing, you're the one responsible. It just means that you find yourself boring, ultimately.
In brief, interactions are enjoyable if they enrich your thinking, your knowledge, and your understanding of others. However, when it ultimately boils down to arguing about everything and anything with people who misunderstand you because they skim over what you write, what is the point? I did not wait until I became ill to realize this, but let's just say that I moved from theory to practice. 😉
