another banger of a piece!! (is it appropriate to call a beautiful literary work a "banger"???) i definitely struggle with trying to present myself in a way that respects my boundaries with the world, and for a long time, i thought the solution was to completely cut myself off from the internet and become this faceless, nameless thing that only consumed content. i realized i still resented this, which is why i love writing on substack because it isn't attached to the same kind of pressure to be picture-perfect that i've found on Instagram & TikTok...there is something so freeing about writing to a very small audience (for a time, i was scared to tell my friends ab it and was writing to literally no one) but knowing that i can at least be a little more genuine than i could to a a crowd of like....three hundred random people that i vaguely know and who i desperately hope think that i'm cool and funny. rambling aside, i really love how well-written this is -- especially the point you make about how attention is so heavily digitized in the forms of likes, comments, etc. so we can literally track how much time people are willing to devote to learning about our life. i hate the cheapening of our lives, the way we feel we need to exploit ourselves for a modicum of notice. so excited to read more from you and i hope you have a lovely day!!! <33
^-^ thank you so much for your kind words and support!! i felt similarly to you when i started publishing on substack - it feels so much more genuine and constructive for me as a person when compared to engagement with other social media platforms. i mean, i started writing in the first place purely for me! nobody else! and i think that's why it brings me so much fulfillment. i am allowing myself to try things and learn and grow and be imperfect here, which doesn't feel permissible in lots of other online spaces. (or, imperfection is allowed as long as it's curated to make you seem more interesting and cool...) instagram carries so much pressure to make my feed perfect and precisely the right amount of aesthetic. the constant checking for likes/comments/views after you make a post is habitual and it is tiring! i have been distancing myself from instagram especially in the past couple weeks and i already feel a huge difference in my mood and in my ability to appreciate/connect with the present moment! as always i am so grateful for your readership and overjoyed to hear from you in the comments <3
another banger of a piece!! (is it appropriate to call a beautiful literary work a "banger"???) i definitely struggle with trying to present myself in a way that respects my boundaries with the world, and for a long time, i thought the solution was to completely cut myself off from the internet and become this faceless, nameless thing that only consumed content. i realized i still resented this, which is why i love writing on substack because it isn't attached to the same kind of pressure to be picture-perfect that i've found on Instagram & TikTok...there is something so freeing about writing to a very small audience (for a time, i was scared to tell my friends ab it and was writing to literally no one) but knowing that i can at least be a little more genuine than i could to a a crowd of like....three hundred random people that i vaguely know and who i desperately hope think that i'm cool and funny. rambling aside, i really love how well-written this is -- especially the point you make about how attention is so heavily digitized in the forms of likes, comments, etc. so we can literally track how much time people are willing to devote to learning about our life. i hate the cheapening of our lives, the way we feel we need to exploit ourselves for a modicum of notice. so excited to read more from you and i hope you have a lovely day!!! <33
^-^ thank you so much for your kind words and support!! i felt similarly to you when i started publishing on substack - it feels so much more genuine and constructive for me as a person when compared to engagement with other social media platforms. i mean, i started writing in the first place purely for me! nobody else! and i think that's why it brings me so much fulfillment. i am allowing myself to try things and learn and grow and be imperfect here, which doesn't feel permissible in lots of other online spaces. (or, imperfection is allowed as long as it's curated to make you seem more interesting and cool...) instagram carries so much pressure to make my feed perfect and precisely the right amount of aesthetic. the constant checking for likes/comments/views after you make a post is habitual and it is tiring! i have been distancing myself from instagram especially in the past couple weeks and i already feel a huge difference in my mood and in my ability to appreciate/connect with the present moment! as always i am so grateful for your readership and overjoyed to hear from you in the comments <3