The benefits of a "to don't" list
Read about my 11 days without Instagram and Ireland's hidden gem
Digitally Exhausted came to be because I wanted a place to share my thoughts on tech’s societal impact. My writing covers social media’s spaghetti-like complexities, Big Tech, and action steps to balance digital life.
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Pssssst… To the listeners tuning in, I talk slowly. If slow talkers are not your thing, I suggest increasing the voiceover speed to 1.5x.
11 days without Instagram sounds impossible. I am here to share, it’s possible.
My mom flew from South Carolina to join me on the Emerald Isle. She left a few days ago—I miss her already—but since we had not seen each other in 8 months, I decided it was an opportune moment to go offline from my Instagram.
(However, I did hop online during a practice coaching session as part of an exercise for the Digital Wellbeing coaching course I am taking.)
For the listeners tuning in, if you can tell by the voiceover for this post, my laptop is finally fixed and back to its rightful home on my desk. Thank you, AppleCare!
Before waiving goodbye to the gram
As I am writing this on the 22nd of October, I have not been on Instagram for 11 days. The experience has been a breath of fresh air.
Before parting ways, I decided to let people know I was going offline. I posted on my Story (saving it to a highlight that I named “Offline?”) that I was going to be off Instagram while my mom was in town and that if anyone needed to contact me, to “Call me, beep me, if you want to reach me on Whatsapp”.
The people who need or want to reach me have my WhatsApp but sharing my offline adventure was important to me because I did not want anyone to feel ignored if I did not open their message in a timely manner—prioritizing notifications, I still feel bad sometimes when I do not reply to someone quickly, whatever “quickly” means nowadays.
The paradise of LITM
There were no more distractions from Reels and Stories.
(Side note about how I engage with Instagram: I have managed to not scroll on my Instagram feed—not intentionally—which is nice, but it is probably a more worthwhile scroll since I know most of the people I follow versus becoming a zombie to random accounts on the Reels feed. However, every once in a while, I will scroll on my home feed if the right post fuels my thumb.)
A major pro, to my surprise, has been grabbing my book over my phone before bed, a habit I have tried to create and keep many times. Not having Instagram has engrained the habit into my nighttime routine and is something I look forward to every evening. Hopping back on the gram, we shall see if this habit is here to stay.
Fun fact: On average it takes 66 days to develop a new habit so I am slowly, but surely, getting there.
More importantly, my offline status allowed me to be more present with my mom.
It was not easy. There were many times when I wanted to share moments with my mom and the picturesque movie moments from our road trip to Malin's head—the Irish sun was out and about—but I did not.
Living in the moment to be present with my mom and soak up the Irish countryside are forever memories.
“To don’t” lists should get more attention
Y’all, I know… Creating another list does not sound appealing.
More tasks are thrown our way every day, but the pros of a “to don’t” outweigh the cons and are just as helpful as “to do” lists. Here are some potential benefits:
A reminder of your values
Can keep you on track to work toward your goals
Practice discarding unpleasant thoughts, or worries, that are distracting
What would be on your “to don’t” list?
Wherever you are, be there ✨
Driving to Malin Head. My mom and I decided to rent a car and risk it for the biscuit driving on the wrong side of the road—not driving for 19 months definitely helped me manage Ireland’s left lane standard.
A picture outside of our accommodation, the Seaview Tavern:
A video of Five Fingers Strand:
Until next time,
Wherever you are, be there
Interest in digital minimalism? Enjoy movies? Want to be inspired? Read (or listen) to this post: Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy are digital minimalists