DIGITAL MINIMALISM: MONTH 1.5
Hello!
In some ways, it feels funny to write this update on digital minimalism, since I don’t have all that many updates to report.
I’ve been running my experiment since about June 19th.
During that time, I’ve been off of Instagram, using Facebook only for our neighborhood Messenger threads, and popping onto LinkedIn once every 2-2.5 weeks or so.
To the best of my knowledge, nothing has come crashing down as a result - and if it did come crashing down on any of these platforms, I’m not currently aware of it.
My immediate life has felt relatively grounded and uncomplicated, against the backdrop of turbulence that we’re all navigating - a mix of doing all of the normal things I do - from working with coaching clients via phone and zoom, to working with teams on virtual leadership development programs, to spending every possible moment outside during these precious summer months.
There are no moments to document and capture “for the gram,” there is nothing to post, and there is nothing to like or comment or catch up on via social media. There’s just life to be lived and enjoyed. And that feels quite delightful in this moment.
A dear friend asked me last week, “is it negatively impacting your business?”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “Well, maybe. I suppose it could be. If it is, I don’t really know about it!”
I like to trust that my clients and community members and folks who would like to get in touch are creative and resourceful and know where to find me off of these platforms, or that perhaps they’ll subscribe to my Friday Favorites email instead. And, I like to also trust that if I have “lost business” to someone who is more loud and present on Instagram these days, that this is the way things were meant to unfold (and, I don’t really believe in the idea of “losing business” anyway - I believe in folks finding the people and companies that are the best, most aligned fit).
In July, I listened to a number of great podcasts, finished four books, and got halfway through about four more. I used the tiny pockets of spare moments that might be used to catch up on social media for walks around the block, to sneak in a few pages of a book, or to listen to a podcast episode. Rather than the ‘one to many’ set up of social media, I invested my energy into a few intimate friendships and relationships via text, Marco Polo, phone conversations, emails, walks, and distanced gatherings. I read the news in intentional chunks from carefully considered sources, rather than opening up the floodgates of ‘social media news (if we can call it that).’
All in all, it has been incredibly uneventful, in the most delightful of ways. Depending on how long this experiment lasts, I’ll likely move to monthly or quarterly updates. I apologize for the utterly unexciting nature of this post. But then again, the fact that life can move forward in such an unexciting and non-problematic way could, I suppose, mean that the experiment is working just great.
Thank you for reading and for following along. If you’re interested in this topic, we’ll be focusing on our relationship with technology in September in The Garden - a brand new virtual community for exquisite humans. I’d love for you to join us there if this speaks to you.
Have a lovely rest of the weekend!
