Avoiding the Universe
This week, I learned that notification ignorance isn't always bliss.
Illustration by Ally Hart
DAY 30 Step away from your notifications!
I don’t think I realized what I was signing up for when I first turned on my phone’s news notifications years ago. I like being informed and keeping up to date, so it was an easy sell for me. But when you have obsessive compulsive disorder, the more you Google, the easier it is to convince yourself that there is something wrong. It’s easy to believe that the world is going to fall apart if you don’t burn your hands under the tap whilst washing them for 20 seconds.
After years of excess knowledge and over-saturation, I’m a little fried out by the constant notifications.
So this week, I decided to consciously ignore the news as best as I could. That means no seeking out information, no checking Twitter’s homepage, no reading any pandemic or current affairs articles, no watching televised news. It means turning off all my news notifications, and giving my brain the break that it deserves during this seemingly joyless, exhaustive time. I hoped to get some reflection out of this, some deeper understanding of how my brain would react to a lack of information.
For the record, this was never meant to be a social media detox. If I was to leave all of my apps right now, I would probably be very lonely and very itchy, because the only social interaction and serotonin I’m getting is from Twitter right now. Cut me some slack, alright?
Cutting myself off from the news took a concerted effort on my part. I had to run out of the room when my family turned the news on the television. I quickly noticed that this experiment had prompted a new kind of anxiety — the anxiety of not knowing. Not being able to double check or mindlessly scroll until my eyes stung. This no-news challenge limited a lot of what I allowed myself to look at, and all of the information I ended up consuming during the experiment was not news as much as it was joyful videos and pictures of what food my friends were making. Regardless, puppies and omelettes don’t cure anxiety, no matter how many yoga videos of white women with their dogs assure you that they do. Anxiety is meditative, and it needs to be actively worked on. If I continue to obsess over what’s on my screen, I’m causing myself more harm than good.
I also had a moment this week where I realized that cutting myself off from news also took positive news off of the table, too. I had no idea which celebrity couples (or fascist leaders) were having children. I couldn’t keep up with the dropping numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases here in the UK, a positive change for once. The loss of knowledge was painfully real, and it was getting to me.
Truthfully, I found myself breaking more often than not, especially if I was using Twitter. I was curious about hashtags, and concerned myself over what I was missing. There was a point where it was isolating to be ill informed. I wanted to understand, and since I was doing this challenge whilst stuck staring at four walls, stimulation was already limited.
So, after a few days of blissful anxiety, would I recommend ignoring the news during a global pandemic?
Yes and no.
Yes, to break free from the fear for a few days; no, if it’s vital for you as a person to understand what’s going on. If you’re a small business owner, immunocompromised, or just someone who needs to be tuned in for reasons above yourself, maybe don’t try this. It was an isolating, but interesting experience.
Let us know in the comments below if you end up trying this! You can also let me know and chat about our experiences on my Twitter or Instagram (you can hit up The Rational on Instagram and Twitter, too). I’d love to know what effect this experiment has on others. I’m off to go and explore everything the New York Times has to tell me.
