Stop.
Draw in a breath.
Land here.
You have noticed that every time you reach for your device to open the app to get to the page,
You feel a certain kind of way.
It may be a sense of urgency,
A wanting to connect,
To be seen.
It may be a longing to numb or a way to avoid.
Maybe you don't even realize it's happening.
All of a sudden,
Your eyes,
Hands,
And fingers are scrolling as sounds and images blast through the screen into your delicate mind.
Minutes turn to hours.
Pockets of time blur.
Transitions fill.
The scrolling has woven itself into your daily life.
Like so many of us,
The quick fix that scrolling provides has snuck its way into our brain,
Teaching it to want more and more.
This is what social media is designed to do.
So when you go to judge yourself for scrolling too much or too often,
Consider this instead.
Your brain is well intact.
It is responding exactly right to the thing it is being exposed to.
But if you are listening,
Then you likely desire less.
Less time throughout your day,
Staring at your screen,
Fingers quickly sliding to the next and to the next and to the next.
Your eyes witnessing someone else's life when yours is happening at the very same time.
You may be craving something more,
Something you thought scrolling would fulfill,
But it never quite scratches the itch.
The itch for meaningful connection,
A sense of authenticity,
A way to feel okay with your feelings,
Your thoughts,
Your interactions,
Your boredom.
And to think about all of this,
Whatever you're looking for,
It's here.
It lives in the present,
In the discomfort,
In the craving.
Inside the awkward pockets of time,
Sitting in the waiting room,
In traffic,
In line.
It lives inside your sadness,
Your anger,
Your insecurities,
In your normal,
Beautiful,
Boring,
Complicated,
Miraculous,
Imperfect daily life.
These deep longings wait outside of social media because they are real.
They are waiting for you.
So next time you reach for your device to try to scratch the itch,
Remember not to judge that your brain is well intact,
But instead take a moment to pause,
Breathe in,
Breathe out.
Grab a glass of water,
Step outside,
Let your eyes land on something right in front of you,
And remind yourself that you are so much bigger than anything inside of that screen,
And so much waits for you outside of it.
