Ironic, I am writing this blog post, sharing it online, when it's the online presence that I am aiming against here. I've been reflecting over the fact that we (as a generation) lost the ability to be present in the moment. We physically are there, but mentally we are lost in our own little worlds.
Think about it, when we pick a restaurant to go out and eat, we decided based on how instagramable it is, when we book a vacation we decide the destination having in mind the pictures we are going to take (or why do you think places like Bali became so trendy in the second half of this decade?!). We do things so that we can show other people that we are doing them, making life a mechanical show of. From the clothes to the decoration, passing by the cafés and places we visit, everything has likes, views and numbers at the top of the priorities list. We want a scoop into other people lives and they want to present us with the absolutely most dreamy and amazing version of themselves, regardless of how fake that might be.
We neglect other people because we have to post a picture when the stats tell us that the picture will do best. We spend so much time taking pictures of our food that it often goes cold, taking pictures of nature that we only look at it through a screen, ignoring the beauty our own eyes can capture. We, as a generation, lost the ability to simply look, to enjoy to reflect upon what we are watching. If something is pretty we snap a picture of it, this way we can always remember a moment we didn't truly experience.
I spend too much time on my phone, actually is where this blog post is being written (not something I usually do but the idea was so stuck in my head I couldn't help it). I spend more time looking at my phone than cooking, working out, reading, sometimes even sleeping. When you put things into that perspective is terrifying. A device has my full attention at most times. A device, either I wanted it to or not, controls my life. I'm writing this post because I truly believe this is a problem many people my age feel, our generation is the first to deal with this type of pressure because we are the first generation to grow up with the internet, technology, easy access to everything and social media platforms.
This post is being seen by me as a turning point, we are at the end of a decade, 2020 is soon upon us, and for that reason I wanted, more than ever to reflect where I want my life to go, how I want to enjoy the world and live my life. I want to make a conscious effort to enjoy the world more, to travel more, to visit new places, to get to know new cultures and to see the world, instead of sharing it.
Don't miss understand me, please. I love to share my life, that is what I do here on the blog and on my social media platforms, but I want to stop living life with the purpose of sharing it, I want to start doing it with the purpose of living it, and if for some reason I think that it's worth sharing I consequently will, but that will stop being the goal.
At the same time, I have set limits to the time I spend on the Youtube app on my phone and on Instagram, is that I will only, from now on, allow myself the time the app allows if I want some sort of extra entertainment I will pick up a book, a movie, a tv show and try to focus on that. This is very important to me because I've been feeling like my attention span is getting extremely short, and it's scary, I often find myself talking to someone, watching a TV show and scrolling at the same time, not paying full attention to either of the tasks, bombarding my brain with information and yet failing to concentrate on anything. This process of change I am meaning to put to action right away will (hopefully) help me concentrate more, spend more time doing things I enjoy and be surrounded by the people I love so that consequently, I am able to create more honest content and share stuff that actually brought me happiness while creating instead of living in the bubble of self-comparison and trying to look better than others.
At the end of the day, I am hoping that by spending less time on my phone and looking at screens I am able to share better content on my online platforms and live a happier life.
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Photography: Catarina Rosa
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