Category: Leisure

Internet vs “internet,” and non-internet things

I am on the Internet.

In fact, I write this blog post and publish it online to share with whoever may read it because of the Internet. My work, an absolute dream come true, also requires me to be on the Internet; mostly to send communication emails, save files to shared drives, and search up important information to get my job done. The Internet is also where I look up grocery flyers and recipes, book tickets for shows and museums, and schedule my doctor’s appointments- all from the comfort of my couch. The Internet gets me places too; far and wide- from home to foreign places and back home again. In fact, the Internet is an absolute dream come true. Forgive my naivety, but how did anyone ever live without the Internet?
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June 4, 2023

digital minimalism
Evenings spent in solitude

I feel stagnant, life is going so well. When I make my complaints to my co-worker they kindly advise I try going out and trying new things: “But that’s the problem,” I groan, “I go out too much. I need to stay home.” And so, I commit. This month, I’m spending my evenings at home, especially weekends but definitely weekdays too, tuned into the deafening silence of evenings spent offline, alone, in solitude. What can I learn from this moment? What can my solitude teach me? What is so bad about being alone— not “alone” while on the internet, but alone alone— anyway? What is so bad about my own company?
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May 2, 2023

time spent offline
Celebrating time spent offline

I love it here. No, not here here, but this little life of mine that the world said was impossible; impossible to disconnect, impossible to unplug, impossible to spend time offline. And do what? Too late, they all shrugged and said, this is life now. Well, this is life for me now and seven years later, there’s no going back. I have made my bed and I must celebrate.
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April 24, 2023

digital minimalism
24 hours spent in reality
A few lessons, realization, tips, tools and tricks from spending Friday evening and all-day Saturday without my tech gadgets.
1. I love my smartphone. I love GPS. I love my music apps- Hoopla and Apple Music. I love looking up the weather and knowing before it’s too late. I LOVE THE UBER APP— more on this later. I love iMessage and trying to beat the text bubble appearing before my punch line. And I love brain-dumping in my Notes app. That’s about what my dumb-smartphone can do.
1. Yet, I can leave the house without my phone and be completely okay. I don’t need it. It’s just nice to have.
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April 4, 2023

digital minimalism
time spent wandering

Nothing fun happens on the internet. So, I learn little by little, I get used to getting used to. I get used to spending weekday evenings out because the alternative isn’t social media reels that keep me entertained and feeling connected until I pass out from exhaustion. It’s plenty of time, space, and void; ample, endless, unrelenting. It demands to be filled, with anything, so I learn to find stuff to do, and make the effort to do them; after work, before a workout class, after an evening out and the night is still young. A fitness instructor once told me, you either learn to love the pain or love the result. Can you love both?
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March 20, 2023

digital minimalism
A day spent offline: Get curious

Not long ago, I used to leave the house and go about my day in the wilderness of the city without a phone, without internet, without the ability to reach someone “in case of an emergency.” It was a time before portable internet and smartphones. It’s a funny thing what you can get used to, and forget there ever being a time without: Without smartphones, without internet, without, without, without. It’s not like I haven’t tried to be without since, here and there, but it came out of frustration, annoyance and spite even, of an economy that turned my attention for sale to the highest bidder. I was simply young, idealistic, angry: It passes with time. Lately, through the passage of time and learning it’s mostly inconvenience rather than actual emergency that make connectivity on the go such a necessity, I find myself curious about a day spent offline. In fact, I have learned to love my smartphone and the internet these days,, but something about going out into the world without, when being without seems impossible, out of the question, even transgressive, that piques my interest, my curiosity to unplug.
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February 28, 2023

digital minimalism
Feeding the second wolf

In every person there are two wolves who are always at war with each other. One is evil, the second one is good. Which wolf wins? “The one you feed.“
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January 17, 2023

digital minimalism
Another year (mostly) spent offline

2022 beat my ass. I aged ten years in two weeks, what did you accomplish? Getting offline won’t save you from yourself, that’s lesson one. Nothing will save your from yourself, except maybe death, but then it won’t matter anyway. In the meantime, getting (mostly) offline has made life much better. Compared to what? I can’t say, but it feels better. It is truly the gift that keeps on giving and I’m excited to see where this journey, this little adventure of mine, will take me. There is no looking back now.
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December 20, 2022

digital minimalism
Wintering offline

Bundle up and gather around, I got a two-word horror story to tell: It snowed. It’s not that I hate winter. It’s just that I hate four hours of daylight and deadly icy sidewalks, and of course, the cold. It sickens me. But as the prayer goes;

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.

So. It’s officially winter. It’s cold, it snows, and it gets dark crushingly early. Naturally, I want to recoil and die. People tell me they understand my despair. We can’t believe it’s dark already. Wasn’t everyone wearing a t-shirt last week? “Watch your steps hun, it’s slippery.” It hurts. It helps. We’re all collectively trying to get through another season of freezing cold temperatures, short dark days, icy roads, leafless trees, gloomy afternoons, and it sucks for everyone.
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November 22, 2022

digital minimalism
Apps won’t cure your loneliness

(Sorry, social media followers don’t count.)

Accept failure.

I’m browsing at my favourite shop with my best friend. “Girl, look at you!” I look up beaming. Compliments from strangers are the best, your boyfriend should find you beautiful. The usual small talk ensues; until we find a common ground. “Where are you from?” In Toronto, this is a common question, it means which country are you from. Ethiopia. Oromo. Harare. No longer stranger; we are linked together with thousands of years of tradition, custom, and love. I pull out my phone; “Let’s exchange numbers!” By evening we are making plans to hang out that weekend. It doesn’t work out as I had hoped. Everybody ain’t for everybody.
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November 15, 2022

digital minimalism
A weekend getaway

I have spent many years fantasizing about a total escape from the digital world; chuck the smartphone, delete social media, not even bother with Google. Unplugged, disconnected, completely offline. I still fantasize about it, although it has become more of a distant longing. It would be nice, sure, but reality requires something else of me. That’s just life, I think. Instead, I have learned to appreciate the little moments I get to spend away from the internet. Like most mornings I spend reading and journaling, workout classes, with not even a Fitbit on sight, Friday evenings spent tucked away at a bar for a weekly gin and convo session with a friend. When I’m feeling really fancy, I put on music and do Suduko puzzles for hours; I know heaven.
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November 2, 2022

digital minimalism

Category: Leisure

Accept failure.