I was travelling for some time recently. Many weeks.
During that time, I pulled back on reading books and even on consuming long-form podcasts.
Instead, I consumed vast amounts of social, specifically Instagram and TikTok.
They are amazing at narrowing in on my interest of the moment.
But I found that I felt off. Wrong.
The best way I can describe it is my brain was fuzzy.
I could not think clearly. I didn’t care so much about “stuff”. I was lethargic. I didn’t want to eat right or go to the gym. I just stopped caring.
It was hard to pull out of this malaise, even after the travel stopped and I was home again and in routine stuff.
As soon as I started reading long form again, I awoke. I deleted the apps and everything is on track again.
So strange. Maybe cause and effect. Maybe a latent cause (e.g. the travel itself). Not sure.
I did learn some things for social, e.g. about where to visit, how to exercise different, maybe some other on-demand things.
Worth it? Nope.