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How I’m Setting Better Digital Boundaries This Year
2020 was the year of the doomscroll. In 2021, I am walking back my compulsive internet use.
Like far too many people, I spent the majority of 2020 curled up in an awkward ball, fighting back tears, my phone craned in front of my face and giving me a nonstop tour of all the world’s horrors. I was adrift in a sea of uncertainty, and the graphs of COVID cases posted to Twitter promised me empowering knowledge but only left me more filled with dread. I was lonely and emotionally starved and Instagram and Facebook DMs offered me social snacks, with a side of secondary trauma and shame.
I was thankful to have the internet to keep me company. I needed something to keep my mind busy, some project to pour energy into. Plus I had a book coming out, so I justified my compulsive internet use as a way to reach new readers.
So for much of last year I frittered away the hours online, posting polls to my Instagram story and talking strangers through complex social science concepts in private messages. It gave me a sense of purpose, making sure I posted to my grid every day. A lot of care and work went into those posts; my captions were often mini-essays about ableism, anarchism, or the history of racism in psychology. And it did work; I slowly ascended from…
