Junk food for the brain

I was chatting to someone about social media a few weeks ago, and she made the comparision with social media consumption being like eating a constant diet of unhealthy food and drink. This was a the start of my experiment in withdrawing from the news and doom scrolling, so I was aware, in theory, of the wisdom of her words, but after a few weeks of withdrawal, I can say with some conviction that she was right.

I've replaced doom scrolling with much more engagement with real life in the form of bike rides, painting and drawing nature, and reading.

One more side effect that I hadn't experienced is a huge reduction in my social anxiety. I've returned to my chatting and curious self when talking to people recently at an art opening event, and recent engagements for work. It's as though the constant interaction online in an unreal space was making me see the real world as a scary place, thus ramping up my anxiety. I'm going to continue the experiment and monitor the results in a mood diary. But so far the results are looking like a no-brainer!