It's an Analogue World
Is it possible to unplug from the matrix? Can life in the 21st Century be lived offline, away from the digital noise and constant notifications? I’m about to find out.
I have increasingly been consumed with the idea of living in a pre-digital world. The feeling has grown that I am losing my sense of reality. I feel less connected to the world around me despite being connected all the time. I’ve started to question my perception of the world. The digital world is not the real one but I’m substituting one for the other. This thought will not go away.
My digital footprint is not as large as most person’s. I have no Facebook, no Instagram, no Tiktok. My online activities are restricted to Youtube, Substack, and a few smaller platforms. I have this blog and personal website. That’s it, but it’s enough. It’s too much. I thought I was being wise through limiting my digital footprint. I’ve never chased likes. I don’t have notifications turned on to every second (just every other minute). And yet, even this limited digital presence feels too much.
I don’t like the person I have become. I’m quick to judgment. Quick to comment. The digital world has me simmering under the surface with a level of frustration that is not healthy. Ignoring what I see or read is not effective. Once seen something cannot be unseen.
But more important is the fact the digital world can not be trusted. Not with AI infesting everything. I do not feel safe online anymore. I’m afraid of the effects of consuming lies and manufactured realities is doing to my mind. I feel like I’ve lost a step or two intellectually. My thinking is less clear. My writing has degraded. I no longer feel like myself.
Before I lose myself, I’m going to act. I’m unplugging myself. Besides this blog, I will no longer be living a digital life. I am plunging back into the analogue world I grew up in. Once more I will feel human, connected to the real world, experiencing real things, and silencing the roar of the digital world.
This unplugging is not just the Internet. I’m removing digital devices wherever I can. My writing will be done with a pencil or a typewriter. Computer usage is reserved for work, for transcribing my writing to this blog and accessing government and banking sites. I am letting go of technology that doesn’t serve my purposes and hoping to rediscover a healthier way of living.