Bad habits (or, Please, don't enjoy the internet)
I read, see and hear about people making such a huge, conscious effort to rid themselves of "bad habits". It's a real struggle people choose to take up in order to improve their lives, and it's always something sprinkled with shame, guilt or a mix of both. It seems like that's very common among netizens. The overall discourse is kind of "Please refrain from having too much fun on the internet." We wouldn't like that, would we? Ideally, you should feel guilty about spending time online feeling good about what you're doing. You know how it goes. Love the web, hate the screen.
And it's always like that.
Have too many hours of screen time? Shame. Have too little time to your hobbies on screen (gaming, watching shows/movies, making your website, writing)? Guilt. Doesn't log your media consumption consistently? Shame. Do log it consistently, in a way that it becomes measurable productivity, falling for capitalistic thinking? Double shame! Live your best life but don't eat junk food ever. Go out with friends but stay home and learn how to be by yourself. Think of the future but live in the moment. Complete your to-do list but also don't take it too seriously. Be yourself, but not like that.
We're always in this constant fight against our inner proclivities and there's literally no peace to be found, just the struggle to be had.
Of course there's nuance and context. A kid living in a horrible place can find their community online. You can struggle to change your screen habits and find that you know what? You actually enjoy the new thing that took time and effort.
I don't have an answer to any of that. I'm sure there's some deep conversation to be had about the human inability to feel at ease as themselves, the adoption of stoicism or hedonism as a guiding principle, a lot of people's Christian upbringing that is grounded in guilt-tripping you to Heaven... I honestly am not equipped to go into any of that.
What I do know is that for myself, I'm gonna stop feeling guilty about spending time on the internet doing what I do, which is having fun.
Toodles, folks. See you in the next one.