I am trying an experiment where I don't go on social media much at all and I also don't go on the news websites reading mindless guff about celebrities compared with all the atrocities going on in the world right now. Just post the odd picture on Facebook and don't delve into things as I normally do and then get the algorithms flooding me, then reading the comments in amazement at how unkind people can be. 

As an over thinker and someone who has (and still does) compare myself a lot with others, Facebook is not a great place to be. I'm trying to be choosier about what to read and where. It's not always easy because something will pull you in. My husband used to joke about my 99+ notifications on Facebook and asked why I didn't look at them to reply. 

I do read physical books which I much prefer, when I allocate time to do so. I'm seeing how my mental health goes. So far so good. I don't need to know the ins and outs of my friends (not that I go into those in much detail) or those I only know a little bit (even if they are “friends”). A few are down South and we rarely go to visit where we used to live and our old haunts, in fact it takes a lot of effort for me to do so with either a plane ride (which has gone up loads since I last went last year) or a long ass journey of 10 hours of more in a car, neither of which either of us really want to do if we can avoid it! 

These things that we all use whether it is TV, mobile phone, laptop, tablet etc all interrupt us constantly and I was looking at a video of Jo, the Supernanny, where she was discussing the effect of the technology in small and growing brains and the link in the exponential rise of ADHD and other diagnoses. It was fascinating and horrifying at the same time and she spoke so much sense and had a deep knowledge of the effects on children and how it messes with their developing brains and even more so where they are younger. 

I was also thinking about myself and my adult brain with its mental health issues, propensity to addiction with certain things, obsessiveness and more limited processing due to age. I think it will free my mind more to explore other more enjoyable past times and not be rooted in what other people are doing and make me more present in myself. Has anyone else done this or doing this? I would be very interested to know your thoughts....

Liz

A Moodscope member