I get asked that a lot by this site. Okay, it's a line text inserted into an alphabet soup of code but you know what I mean. It seems like we're always wondering what's on each other's minds. We read blogs, watch vlogs, scan social media pages about what everyone in the world is doing and often times I feel like I spend so much time doing this that I'm not doing anything at all.
So I break away. Try to find something else to do. But I can't. I want to know what's going on in the world. I want to speak my mind so people know what I'm doing. Knowing what's on everyone's minds has become this feedback loop where if I don't know I wonder what it is I'm missing.
But what if there really isn't anything on someone's mind? What if what we're missing is them trying to find out what they are missing about us?
I know I sound like I smoked some really good weed (I don't partake in the herbal delights at all) but to be honest that's something that has been on my mind a lot lately. I've been doing some soul searching about my daily schedule trying to decide where my life all went wrong. It seems like I'm always busy but when I really stop and think about what I've done for the day the list is quite short. Why? Because I'm trying to find out what's on people's minds. twitter, Discord, twitch, Suicidegirls. It seems like I'm always bouncing back and forth from site to site hoping that someone, somewhere has posted something that I can read. It's exhausting.
So I take a break and... do what? Write comics? Play video games? Draw illustrations? I've started a few creative projects but I get so overwhelmed by them that they cause more stress than they alleviate. Why is that? Is it because when I'm drawing/writing/playing I'm not finding out what's on other's minds? Yeah, maybe.
The need to unplug is very real. I'm sure you've seen the headlines, passed by the articles and like me just blew it off. "Social media is something I do in my spare time." Okay, sure but ask yourself this. How much spare time do you have? Not much? A lot? Why? Is it because you're following whoeverthefuck's food blog on Instagram? When was the last time you posted/liked/re-shared? How often do you do that a day? How many other things are you NOT doing right now?
That last one's the biggie. If you think nothing is getting done around the house ask yourself what am I doing the exact moment that thought entered my mind? What's in front of me? Is it a computer screen? Your smartphone? If so you might need to unplug. I know I do.