Why create a blog?

I was using social media like any other “elder Millennial.” I started back in the day with “MySpace” then moved on to “the Facebook” and finally included “Insta.” Generally, it was nice to see what old friends were up to (and see all their cute dogs and kids!). However, it started to take a little bit more of my time than I liked — the algorithms knew just what kind of reels would make me laugh and keep scrolling. But the thing is that I am a very busy person and I have a lot of personal goals. If I am going to take some time for myself (which I DO deserve to do – thankyouverymuch), I should be mindful about what I am doing to get the most out of my time. Listening to music is a better use of my time. Sleeping. Taking a shower. Reading a book. Having a snack. Sitting in silence doing jack sh*t is probably a better use of my time.

I live near several schools, so I see many teenagers walking around just absolutely glued to their phones. They don’t look up. It can be a beautiful day (we have some breathtaking fall colors in our neighborhood) and these teens are seeing their phones only. One time a kid actually walked right into my daughter when she was on her bike – knocked her down and made her have a scraped knee! I was shaking my head and exclaiming “look up!!!” to this kid who wasn’t really even on planet Earth with us because he was so immersed in his phone.

It is obvious that smartphones and social media are causing some problems for some people. Plain old normal me can see it with my very normal, unscientific eyes. And then I read The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt where he argues that smartphones and social media have caused mental health decline in adolescents and cites to several studies that support his position. I note that Haidt’s argument has counterpoints (see here: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00902-2), but I see what I see in this world…and the amount of time we are spending on our phones seems not right.

I kept thinking…

“I don’t even think social media is good for me an adult with a fully formed frontal lobe, let alone teens. Am I a part of the problem by having these accounts? How can I separate from social media companies, while still having the aspects of an online life that I enjoy and that are healthy for me?”

So, a blog is what I landed on.