A Life Without Instagram

“I’m tired of making everything about myself. My job requires me to look at myself, talk about myself, post myself, and reply to comments about myself. It is way too much of a self-obsessive job”

“On TikTok, you have to talk in short sentences. I’ve learned to not elaborate on my idea — which for years of my academic life, I was taught to elaborate ... See more

Scrolling displaces observation, shuts out occasions for self-generated thought, silences out-of-the-blue invitations. Checking the phone reroutes the discomfort of blankness and emptiness. It stoppers authentic—often anxious—waiting. And, even more disturbing, scrolling narrows the field of my curiosity. I take what I find there; I don’t make adve... See more

To feel creatively and intellectually alive, you have to stop mindlessly consuming the Internet and start mindfully curating it.