How To Be Offline

Critical commentary on internet culture from a recovering chronically online person. A place documenting my journey to live more intentionally and off my phone.

[lifehappens0ffline]

Hello,

I am starting this blog as a way to document and hopefully provide some resources and insight for those who want to find a better balance with being online and living life. I guess here is my introduction!

I am a late millennial. (Please don’t shoot me for being “old”.) I grew up watching how analog moved to digital as a kid. I started using computers when forums and myspace were still popular. I got my first smart device I think in middle school, an itouch. I remember signing up to Facebook I think in 2010. At first, Facebook was only for college students before it eventually opened to everyone in the public. I was in high school and not impressed by the boring color scheme compared to the creative designs on MySpace made with HTML coding. (Not that I used MySpace often anyway, MySpace was already dying.) My younger cousin had to convince me that Facebook is not a boring place for old people (funny how times change, huh?) And after I got on there, eventually I was hooked.

Much of my adolescence and young adult life was spent online. I had fun in fandoms, learned political hot takes, made mistakes, was incredibly cringe. You know, the normal stuff of growing up. But I also became depressed and angry. It wasn’t because of the internet. My family and home life was not easy. But there was no cultural framework to understand that I was experiencing mental health issues and not just teenage angst. Although I’m far from the worst case, I would say that I became chronically online. And made friends with other chronically online people both in real life and on the internet.

I’m not going to bore you with the rest of my life story. This is just a snapshot for people to understand where I’m coming from. It’s been a long, slow journey of pulling myself out of my mental health issues and chronically online behavior. Eventually, I got tired of being angry, anxious, and exhausted all the time. Im still on this journey and I’m proud that I made it really far from who I used to be. I believe that we don’t have to be fringed by our past and we don’t have to be defined by what tech billionaires want.

This blog is meant as a place for my reflections while I’m still on this journey to find a better balance between technology and living a meaningful life as a good person. And it’s also a place where I’ll share resources in hopes of helping anyone who also wants to live less online. I’m at a point where I can look back on my mistakes from past years with wisdom, but still young enough that it wasn’t very long ago and I still regularly make mistakes, especially when I’ve had a bad day and the internet enables regressive behavior.

I feel it is important to state that this blog is run by a leftist WOC who believes in nuance, patience, and compassion. I grew up on Internet politics at odds with the conservative-leaning POC culture I grew up in and I’ve learned how internet behavior on politics don’t translate to real life. We cannot build community or solidarity on chronically online leftist mentality, which in the west is often influenced by white culture aka dominance and violence. Do not mistake my compassion for being an “enlightened centrist.” Do not confuse my sympathy for conservatives as endorsement of their views. And do not think the label leftist means I will agree with every single opinion. People are complex and people are not a monolith.

Sorry in advance if I don’t engage often. Honestly, I am scared of people on the internet now. We know how internet people can be. The dogpiling, the doxxing. I’ve seen it. And regrettably, I’ve participated in it. And I have seen firsthand and through loved ones how what people say online does affect people in real life. I would like my experience with this blog to be low stimulation and emotionally safe and stable. Thank you in advance for your respect and understanding of my desire for privacy :)

[scobbe]

This doesn’t do it justice but the Strawberry Moon was the prettiest orange I’ve ever seen as it followed me home from fishing last night.

[tracetheradianceback]

"After the ecstasy, the laundry”

—Jack Kornfield

[deadgenerations]

[sharpestlives]

some of you people are so annoying. i mean me too but good lord

[oldbutchdanielmolloy]

i like my music and it makes me happy and i dance and i smile and i groove to the rhythm

[thememedaddy]

[fiercelywonderful]

Don’t confuse having the same beliefs as having the same values.

You can believe in the same god, vote for the same political party, or support the same cause as someone else but come at it from completely different places. This is not necessarily always a bad thing, but it’s important to know the difference. Not every fellow is a friend.

What I’m thinking about in particular is that there are many people who may believe the same things as you but come from a place of vindictiveness. Being AGAINST something is not the same as being FOR something. Do not automatically assume that someone who shares a lot of your beliefs is a good person or someone you can trust. Especially if they’re prone to being petty, combative, and constantly negative. Especially if underneath they’re not a kind person.

Your beliefs are your opinions of the world. Your values are how you move through the world.

Protect your peace, keep your inner circle tight. Remember that nobody is entitled to have access to you.

[chillyfeetsteak]

there should be more options than suffering via employment and suffering via unemployment

[what-even-is-thiss]

When I was a teenager I had a phase where I called soccer football because the rest of the world called it that but eventually my dad told me “You know, there’s a point where acting smart doesn’t make you smart and just makes you annoying. Refusing to use the word that everyone else around you uses doesn’t make you smarter than them.”

So anyways I call it soccer now.

[byjove]

“people shouldn’t have to accept the bare minimum-” I agree with that too but we’re at a point where we have to cling to the bare minimum or that will be taken away too

[herpsandbirds]

[apricops]

*trying to pitch public transportation to Americans* it’s like a legal form of texting while driving

[random-brushstrokes]

Leslie Thrasher - "Tuned Out", Cover Illustration for Liberty Magazine (1925)

[ghostisredacted]

once you start saying shit like "yayy" "yippee" and "hehe" theres no going back

[dicaeopolis]

Human beings b like. *sits and stares peacefully at a fire* *sits and stares peacefully at the ocean* *sits and stares peacefully at a sleeping animal*

[dicaeopolis]

a small rhythmic motion: is happening

us for 6 million years and counting: talented brilliant showstopping incredible

[my-flying-sister]

I love rebloging. It’s the adult equivalent of showing everyone the cool rock I just found.

[the-dandy-liar]