time spent offline

time spent offline isn’t for everyone.

In fact, it is for a very select few with a large appetite for life.

It takes a large appetite to decide to go against the grain, the status quo, what they say is just life now, ya know, and say, NO, THANK YOU.

It takes a large, large, large appetite to wake up every day and decide— Yes, YOU decide— what to think, how to feel, what to do; There are no tweets, feeds, notifications dinging at you, nudging you towards what you should think, feel, do in each moment. You must decide: At the crack of dawn, while waiting for your sushi at the counter, and at night when sleep evades you.

It’s just you, really.

It takes a large appetite for life to go on looking for love, connection, community Without a follow/ Without a mention. Trusting life just a little.

Just so you are sure, sweetheart.

But the reward, my god.

I feel so free.

I could cry.

There is nothing for you here, I promise.

The best things in life are— Stop reading right now and look around you: What do you see? What can you touch? How does the air feel in the room? Who’s there next to you? Who is not? That’s it, that is real.

This is not real.

I’m not real— I promise. Wherever you are right now, whatever you can see, touch, hear, feel, that is what is real.

This is not real.

I feel so free.

I decided one day, you know, I decided I was free.

I said, to no one in particular one quiet, calm, peaceful morning spent pouring my heart out in my $2 journal, I declared myself free on those empty pages.

You think it requires so much to be free, but just your decision, darling.

You decide.

It’s free to be free, can you believe it?

Nobody is coming to save you, I’m so sorry, I promise.

No one is going to give you permission to get offline; if that’s what you want, if that’s what you are waiting for.

I’m so sorry, I can’t give you permission— I don’t know you, you’re not even real!

Nobody can promise you whatever utopian ideal you have in your mind if only you could stop scrolling your life away. Only you can stop scrolling your life away and find out for yourself. You must decide, declare yourself free: Free from the noise, the losers shouting at other losers on flat screens, the thousands of avatars available 24/7 but no one to hold you at night; No one to spend perfect days wandering, wondering with, shrieking with delight, giggling at the beauty of life.

How sad!

I decided, you know.

Nobody gave me permission to get off social media, turn my phone into a dumb phone, stop following the news and start following my heart.

Nobody promised me how great my life would turn out if only I stopped wasting it scrolling through the avatars. I just decided. I got so tired of losing every day: Waking up every day feeling like shit from a night spent staring at the screens just to jump right back into the noise as soon as I opened my eyes, unable to look away from the screens long enough to pay attention to life happening all around me. The isolation I felt with thousands of avatars shouting their grievances at me, and another weekend, weeknight spent staring at the screens.

I decided I was done because I was tired of losing to Big Data and I couldn’t stand another day of it. I understood the game was rigged. And little ol’ me did not stand a chance to win against far smarter, richer, better people tweaking buttons to control my attention. The only way I could win was to declare myself free and flee. I didn’t know what awaited me on the other side, and I still don’t know.

To this day, I don’t fully grasp the consequences of my decision to take my life offline, and I smile when they say those who are adapted to Big Data, ChatGPT and AI will be best adapted to the future.

Maybe.

“I have email?” I chuckle to delight myself.

It’s too late now for me anyway.

I know too much, too adapted to reality, I cannot go back. That’s the thing, once you see the other side, once you taste freedom, you cannot go back.

Just so you are sure, sweetheart.

Before it’s too late for you too.

Before you become so intoxicated with reality, just you and this moment, before you cannot stomach the thought of the avatars, the noise, the scrolling habits of the masses, before it is too late for you too.

Unadapted to the future: not suited by nature, character, or design to a particular use, purpose, or situation: not adapted.

Ah, shit.

“I have a typewriter?” I chuckle to delight myself.

time spent offline really isn’t for everyone.

It takes a large appetite to bet on your one wild, precious life and decide what is best for you, to get offline, even when the whole world is shouting at you to better get yourself on LinkedIn, create Instagram to not miss out on the whole entire world having fun, to be well suited for life in the 21st century.

Man, I was just so tired of losing my time, attention, energy, humanity to Big Data.

There is no reward for losing all your life, so decide.

Take your freedom.

It’s free to be free.

Please decide.