5 Tips How I Maintain A Mindful Relation With Social Media During Travels
Self Care
I remember a time when I was travelling and had an Ipod for music, a digital camera for photos and a simple Qwerty slider phone for keeping in touch. I brought books for my travels and maybe a few too many travel guides. Going abroad usually involved the disconnection with the world except when there was free wifi. My attention was only in one place most of the time.
The present.
Heavily on the present, as I take in all the sights, tastes, sounds, emotions, conversations and experiences. Being a solo traveller most of the time, my best companion was my travel journal. Life was simple and everything was not just a quick google away or contained all in one gadget. Journalling my thoughts, writing down the local language conversational phrases, exchanging email addresses were all in paper and pen and lost in my numerous travel journals. Losing or breaking any of these things, was not as heart-wrenching as it would be with our gadgets now.
Bring on the present reality today, where we are serving technology more than it served us. Technology was crafted to facilitate convenience, access, knowledge and connection. Indeed it has fulfilled all of these and brought us closer than ever, yet also further than ever too. We are connected with loved ones at the touch of a fingertip across oceans and being timezones away. However, the sheer volume and instant access to our social media also hosts emotional stimulus and we could take in these energies if we are not mindful. The invasion of the digital age these days has seen mental health problems arising around anxiety, self-worthlessness, depression and even poor sleep and rest.
Our society has become far more distracted in its global culture with social media than we have even been in centuries. As a global mass, we have grown further by preferring virtual communication through smartphones and social media than actual physical interaction. It is a daily life affair where you observe many commuters glued to their screens in public transportations or smartphones on dining tables for an Insta- story/check-in or a hoard of people lining up for a sunset photo before actually fully savouring it. Social media has been the outlet of vapid broadcasting and curating of our personal life which sometimes, is not as seemingly true as it seems to be.
Focusing in a distracted society is a skill I am constantly honing for productivity, personal growth and inner peace. It is inevitable that we have to engage with some form of social media in this digital age. As a deeply spiritual person, I am a believer that we are all connected and made of energies from the person next to you, to your smartphone, to the grass, you stepped on and the list goes on. Where we channel our energy deems our focus.
After all, where the focus goes, energy flows.
It is how we mindfully consume and create these information, knowledge and energy that shape the person we become; our success, our inner peace and personal growth.
Below are 5 Tips I personally integrate into my life to maintain a mindful relation with social media during my travels:
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Evaluate Your Intentions And Relation With Social Media
Do you really know everyone on your Facebook? Do you really enjoy following all those people on your feed? Do you feel uplifted, motivated or empowered by them? What are the emotions you feel when you engage with their posts? Do you feel inspired, stimulated, excitable, or a sense of self lack, inadequacy or other negativity? Are you mindlessly scrolling and watching those Insta-stories to pass time? Are you updating yours for expression of yourself, or out of boredom, or validation? Is it true, kind and necessary?
The truth is, we spend way too much time on entertainment and being distracted on social media. And by evaluating your intentions with each social media allows you to understand yourself better. This includes the act of being mindful how social media stimulates you in terms of creativity, positivity and inspiration. I have arrived at a point where I find my time sacred. And by evaluating my intentions towards social media, helps me in remaining disciplined in my goals and how I channel my energy towards what matters and what does not. I completely do not enjoy mindless scrolling or binge-watching Insta stories. If I ever do it, it usually does not last more than 5 minutes. I personally use social media as a form of creation, expression, empowerment and uplift in my digital business and personal life. I have a spiritual account which I use specifically for inspiration doses in my spiritual life. If I truly am interested to know about someone, I will jump straight to their account or reach out to them directly. This includes my loved ones as well as people who inspire and empower me. Social media are creative platforms because they serve as outlets of expression of self. But donโt forget to mindfully navigate its relations to you and your intentions towards it.
Be kind to yourself. Our time is precious. Spend less time on distractions and entertainment, and more on learning and creating. Managing your distraction is a huge act towards self-care and personal growth.
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Savour First, Capture Later
So often when presented with a moment that takes our breath away, we always feel an immediate urge to reach for our phone or the camera. And so often, we forgot to live in the present and take it in fully in our veins. By savouring, it fully means taking in the sounds, sight, surrounding, emotions, thoughts and connections. We feel a need to take the picture to post it on social media immediately. And sometimes, we feel a need to be in it too. While it is right to highlight and capture those moments using social media, it is not equivalent or does it replaces the need for living in the present moment. Each time you feel an urge to reach for your phone, allow a moment of awareness, am I savouring it first?
When R and I were at Bouma waterfalls in Taveuni in Fiji, we found ourselves bestowed with the grandeur of a stunning waterfall surrounded by the lushness of Mother Nature. It was such a surreal feeling within me; the oneness of being and the rhythm and whispers of Mother Nature altogether. I had a phone at hand and the above photo was the only photo I took before putting my phone down. We swam and smiled so hard like kids in the water for a good half an hour. We were living heavily in the present as we take in every little details of the grandeur of what was in front of us. It wasnโt until after did I grab my gopro for some photos of us. It was one of the happiest moment of my life. There is also some moment too where no devices can replicate the ability of our naked eye and it is better left that way. Nature is the best teacher and sometimes you just have to let her teach you her lessons- her way.
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Go Old School: Paper And Pen + Gratitude Journalling
If you have not read my post on Living The Gratitude, I am big on gratitude journalling where I integrate it in my daily evening ritual. I always look forward to take a moment to write in my gratitude journal on 3 things I am grateful for. It is a time where I unwind and integrate daily mindfulness. I love to do it while I am travelling because it allows me to be creative and explore more gratitudes in a different environment, culture and context!
Going old school by penning your thoughts during your travel allows you to slow down and work on the reflective muscle. It also allows you to curate your thoughts and emotions by dedicating an alone time for yourself. I like to take my travels as a heavy digital detox by living more presently than usual. Sometimes I sketch or doodle, sometimes I collect boarding passes, brochures, pressed ferns and flowers or anything that comes along. By channelling my energy in the right outlets for creativity, allows me to engage in less mindful social media distractions.
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Allocate Time For Intentional Usage, Creation and Engagement
I use the word allocate instead of limit. In fact, we should not limit social media, but rather, allow greater usage and engagement but with greater intentions. Use it more intentionally.
The keyword is intentionally.
Engage with experts you can learn from, who motivate, inspire, empower and uplift you. Create genuine and positive friendships. Disengage with mindless scrolling, hating, comparison or any form of negativity. Be aware of your voice with yourself when using social media. It is okay to sink into the comparison pit but do not let the negativity control you. Remember, most people curate their social media in a way that may just be a facet of what their real-life really is. Everyone is battling a pain/ history/ trauma and just may not be talking about it. Follow people who harness authenticity as a tool of expression, not the latest style, presets or material aesthetics. Look for raw, genuine, kind content to curate your feed. It is what and how we consume that sets us apart from the rest. Do not be afraid to look up to people who embrace vulnerabilities and pain. We live in a world that encourages so little of that, but it is what these struggles are that make us beautifully human.
During my travels, I like to allocate downtime at the end of the day where I allow intentional usage of social media for either creation or engagement. This could vary from as little as 15 minutes to over an hour. Some days, I even do none. It is important to unplug from social media during most of the day to be as present as we can. By working with the first tip mentioned above, you should be aware of your relation with social media. Dissolve your urges during the day for a need for instant updates on your social media- which may just be a subconscious cue for personal validation. Harness a discipline for intentional usage later in the day. Always know you have an ability to choose. Validation should come from within, not from the number of likes or comments or views. Look within you.
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Yes, Go Data Free or Airplane Mode
Most of my most amazing travel experiences happened when I had no signal on my mobile phones, either by choice or by circumstances. They were in the Himalayan highlands, trekking in the forest and mountains, swimming under the stars, getting lost in the desert, taking deep walks, watching wild animals in savannahs, diving in the deep blue in the middle of the ocean, taking long bus and train rides and many more.
The similarity was presence. Thich Nhat Hanh once said,
โ Your true home is in the here and the now.โ
Yes, I do still take photos, and have my Spotify music close to me- music is one thing I havenโt found a way to live without. But I was also observing, interacting, smiling, laughing, listening, creating and learning more intently and mindfully than I normally do. Sometimes being unplugged to the outside world is such a comfort itself. Presence is a concept and a life skill that gets better over time by allowing yourself to immerse in it. Indeed, it can be worrying for loved ones not to hear from you during your travels. But I have always made it a point to them that I will be less contactable and perhaps replying slower when I am on the road. I still think it is alright to be able to connect to wifi at your downtime to have intentional social media usage or simply letting your loved ones know you are safe and well. Depending on the length and the reasons for my trip, I would then decide whether to purchase a sim card. Even so, I am mindful to make sure social media does not consume my present moment and stick to my allocated downtime later in the day. It is just a matter of a button of the airplane mode, but it shifts your relation with social media.
Thank you for reading until here, and I hope I inspired you a little more each day and that you gathered some musings and thoughts from this post. Let me know what you think and if you enjoy such posts. Sending you a huge hug.
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I am Sylviaโ the founder, writer, intuitive healer, and human design reader of Arawme. โArawmeโ is basically, a raw me put together.
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