People set resolutions when a new year begins. Many in my professional network chose their word of the year. I began an experiment inspired by Macquarie Dictionary’s word of the year and an Instagram post. As a loyal customer of Apple since the launch of the Apple iPod and then the iPhone, I get access to my digital use statistics for every week. I was getting concerned with the dependence I had developed on social media platforms. So what was going on? Let’s rewind to the year that changed everything – FY2020.
The devastating 2019-2020 Australian bushfires ignited a passion in me to protect our environment. The sheer scale of the fires and their impact on people, nature, and the environment was catastrophic. Then, in March 2020, Sydney’s first Covid lockdown began. Schools across Sydney sent instructions that ideally (if we are able), parents should keep their kids at home to protect the health of the school community. My husband and I took the role of co-supervising the learning and engagement of our primary school kids (at the time Evania and Mike were only 10 and 6 years old) as they attended zoom sessions with their teachers and school mates while wearing pyjamas.
Drawing on two decades of working in marketing, research, and experience design, now armed with an environment conservation and mental health focus, I decided to chart my own part as an entrepreneur. The value of time as a resource became abundantly clear to me in a whole new way. We have collectively learned over the past few years just how fragile and delicate life, health, and the environment can be. In a short and unpredictable life, how we choose to spend our time would determine the output and outcome of love, life, and work.
As the world began its slow recovery from the initial Covid scare, my ventures, a marketing and design consulting firm and a customer experience focused startup, have required every bit of my time. All these factors increased a sense of urgency that I simply hadn’t felt before. At the time of this writing, I am a wife, a mother to a teenage girl and a tween boy. My family and work require me to be present, not doomscrolling. They command my attention and interest.
The Apple weekly screen time reports were a helpful regular reminder of how much time I was spending on social media. I was getting good at ignoring the reports till I started taking stock. To my dismay I was spending far more time than I had realised because of my mindless swipe-ups. Not gonna lie, sharing some highlights of my life and swiping through the lives of friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and occasionally strangers, is captivating. Was it really the best use of my time? The difficult answer to the question if I’m honest is “no”. Doomscrolling is not the best use of my time. As I was coming to terms, slowly and uncomfortably, with the contradiction between my aspirations and my reality, I was captivated by the word “enshittification”.
Macquarie Dictionary named “enshittification” as 2024 Word of the Year. Enshittification is the gradual deterioration of a service or product brought about by a reduction in the quality of service provided, especially of an online platform as a consequence of profit seeking. The word is so apt at conveying what I have seen unfold over the years that it inspired me. I have intentionally chosen to be less active on social media this year. After some introspection, I announced my choice to go missing in action on social media with a post on Instagram.
A former university student of mine commented on my post that Oxford university’s word of year is brain rot. The poetic justice of cause and effect was clearly at play here. Enshittification causes brain rot. I reckon the sun really rises from the east and sets in the west. Macquarie in Australia named the word of the year for 2024 “enshittification”, and by the time the sun set in Oxford, they had to nominate brain rot as their word of the year. So much can happen in just one day.
January 14th 2025 the experiment begins. After just five days, I’m already starting to feel a bit clearer, like I’m finally clearing the cobwebs from my brain. I am optimistic that my experiment will help me curb my social media addiction, while enhancing mindfulness, productivity, and wellbeing.
I welcome you to join the conversation. What are your biggest challenges when it comes to reducing your social media usage? Share your thoughts, questions, or any tips you have for navigating the digital world mindfully.
I will update the progress of my experiment every month on my blog, and ironically put a post about it on social media.
1 Comment
Add Yours →Hi Syma,
That is an interesting word to describe the experiences of social media scrolling. I agree, the mindless hours can sometimes be wasted. One of my grandchildren families has put restrictions on their children to build awareness of this mind numbing, time stealing habit, we are still to discover the impact of. So I chose to monitor myself also. Limiting myself to a target of three hours per day. That was so interesting to review weekly & check my progress & reduce if I felt I had overindulged. Trouble is, we use our phone for so many apps. So my music, is often a high use app, my learning platforms for a couple of courses I took, also added to my timeframe. So the awareness & the statistical tools, are a great addition to my measures.