One week (mostly) offline

I’ve spent the past week off of social media (since I no longer have any accounts) and trying to cut down my time online overall. At the same time, I’ve seen so many different articles of people talking about doing the same thing. I think, quite possibly, many folks are realizing that technology isn’t the answer and that it may be a hindrance to living the life we want.

I spend time on both Ravelry and Threadloop. They’re all about helping me figure out what I want to make next or documenting what I’ve made for future reference. I also use Storygraph and have found it an interesting way to track reading. I agree with this sentiment from the Embedded newsletter:

To use Goodreads, you have to be reading. To use Ravelry, you have to be knitting. To use Letterboxd, you have to be watching (ideally going to see) movies. Even a visit to Pinterest, one of the pioneers of the infinite scroll, more often than not ends with me pinning something I’d like to do IRL—a sewing pattern I’d like to try, or a new way to organize my office.

The link to the above came via Ann Friedman’s newsletter where she also linked to an article by someone getting off of food delivery apps. I’ve found, in this past week, that my mind has calmed down. The fact that I don’t know everything that’s going on hasn’t changed what’s happening in the world but it has changed me. This past weekend I read a book in just a day and a half and we did our first puzzle in years. Going into week two, I’m feeling pretty good and hoping to keep it up.