Oh hello darling and welcome back to the final post of January on benpechey.com, continuing the theme of ‘2021, let’s do better’ today I want to explore the cult of screen-time.
I think it must have been March last year, when we went into the first lockdown, that I really saw and interacted with screen-time. I am sadly a slave to the world of Apple products with an iPhone, iPad and MacBook all connected to the same account. March saw the increase of screen time for many of us, myself included.
Those initial screen-time reports from Apple were damning and made me look like an internet addict. The way the report was phrased was scary, and sent my anxiety through the roof. I then began to feel really negative about spending time online.
I don’t know what it is about the positive advances in our life, but you can always guarantee that with that good, bad will always swiftly follow. The internet has seen one of the biggest changes in human life, never before have we had so much at our fingertips. Sadly we also have seen huge surges in anxiety and depression related to online use, and internet abuse is a constant hazard for many of us.
So trust me when I say, I know the impact that increased usage can have on our health. However, for members of the LGBTQIA community the internet and social media is one of the only places where we can see people with similar interests and beliefs as us.
Thus the internet can be seen as a good thing for us.
I spoke at the end of November about the power of Guilt, and how in essence this only harms us, as many people really do not care about anyone but themselves. Imposing personal restrictions on screen time because you want too is a great use of control. However, imposing personal restrictions on screen time because you feel you should is very harmful.
We need to be kinder to ourselves in respect to our activity online because for so many of us it truly is a lifeline, that should be respected for what is. We know that with all good there is bad, and we have to embrace both to move forward. I owe so much of my strength and wellness to the relationships I made online last year, and in 2021 I will not let Apple bully me into thinking that this is bad for me.
The key message in this post is that we all need to be kinder to ourselves in 2021 because the world is not set up for individual pleasure. Thus we need to seek out routines and behaviours that nourish our wellbeing and make us feel great. We should all take the relationship we have with our own mental health seriously.
I hope that this resonated with you and that you were able to take something away from this month of content. I will be back next week in February with a brand new month of content, but until then, uh buh bye.
Shot by Rachel Pechey
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