I’m starting this article with a long sigh.
I don’t often do a mid-year calibrate. June and July are always full of important birthdays and anniversaries that act as a lovely distraction from any self-loathing that accompanies the ‘holy banana’s what have I done with the last 6 months’ internal monologue.
Apparently I’m not immune to it in 2024.
What do I have to show for the first half of the year? Admittedly a whole lot less than I would like but one of my mid-year goals is to be kinder to myself (the irony).
I have recently entered stage two of our move to the U.K. Our home is homing, work is working and now that most of the big-ticket items are up and away we can focus our attention back to things I would categorise as mid. ‘The senior leadership team have developed the three-year strategy and it’s now up to middle management to deliver it operationally’, kind of tasks.
Key task number one… reduce screen time.
Oh boy. This sent me into a shame spiral. How on earth am I spending so much time on my phone? I work fulltime, I read a hell of a lot, and I sleep a healthy 7 hours a day. There can’t possibly be enough hours in the day to have such a shameful screen time. It must be wrong… please be wrong… and cue another sigh because it’s right.
When faced with a similar problem last year, Ben and I made the decision to get off TikTok because of the mindless scroll phenomenon that gripped our small house. As is standard in our relationship we challenged each other to a competition of self-control, the first to re-download the app would be subjected to unapologetic ridicule from the other. Like every other competition between us it ended in a stubborn stalemate with neither of us willing to concede. Read into that what you will.
I’ve listened to a few podcasts recently that have tackled the topic of being socially disconnected if you don’t have TikTok. I’ll give you an example of why it’s just not true.
I was scrolling through The Cut this morning and found a funny little article about the Hawk Tuah girl that made me laugh… a lot. I won’t go into why she’s gone viral; this story is getting a lot of screen time as it is, but if you’re interested read ‘What’s the Deal with the Hawk Tuah Girl?’. After 30 seconds of virality on TikTok the Hawk Tuah girl has a rumoured contract with a talent agency and a merch line. Because, as The Cut so rightly says…
Is there a way I can spend somewhere between $19.99 and $37.99 to let people know that I’m clued in to new memes?
Within three days I have listened to, or read about this story twice on two completely unrelated platforms. Social disconnect theory debunked.
I have a lot of love for this capitalised, opportunistic world we are living in but if this is what I’m missing from being off TikTok then I think I’ll survive, and I feel pretttty safe in my ability to stay connected.
Kudos to the Hawk Tuah girl, she seems like a fun time and I’ve got mad respect for her sense of humour, but I feel comfortable with my decision to reduce my screen time.
Now, I’ve got to get back to my middle management operational plan… speak soon!
Looking forward to learning about key task no. 2