{"id":155,"date":"2026-08-28T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mewwrites.it.com\/?p=155"},"modified":"2026-08-28T02:59:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T02:59:43","slug":"boredommaxxing-to-fight-instant-gratification-because-its-that-damn-ipad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mewwrites.it.com\/?p=155","title":{"rendered":"Boredommaxxing To Fight Instant Gratification Because It’s That Damn iPad!!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Get Dressed – Jeff Parker + Down 2 Tha Last Roach – Eazy-E<\/em><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Reducing how much of my life is on my phone…because I love what the digital world can do, I just don’t like the way I’m using it, and that’s on me.” – Leonie <\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s an ominously cyclical feeling about swaths of my generation wanting to move away from living so immersed in the digital age. I can vividly recollect the beloved times before smart devices, but, to a certain degree, my entire life has always been digitally connected. And while the convenience and novelty of that fact are #awesome,<\/mark> in some measure, I do yearn for a different reality at times. Being on the iPad (phone, computer, TV, big-ass\/bright-ass screens) feels so good (Chuck Mangione reference) in the moment, but being off the iPad feels so fulfilling, and the solution lies within the tension between.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A number of my friends have started to disengage from their smart devices and, more specifically, from social media (aka Instagram) altogether. I have several friends who have permanently deleted their Instagram, a few who hit the deactivation tease for periods of time, and even more who have set physical limitations on their social media or phone use. Either by setting time limits on apps or moving away from apps altogether toward more analog ways of documenting, everyone in my echo chamber can admit: it\u2019s that damn iPad!<\/mark><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The glaring sardonic irony is that society scrutinizes children and adolescent screen time but, when it\u2019s time to look at the man in the mirror and check an adult’s screen time, it\u2019s quiet, ain\u2019t no backtalk!! We\u2019ve been socialized to see it as normal to not only start and end the day on a screen, but to fill every available second you barely possess with an activity on your smart device.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also something distinctly unsavory in experiencing the commodification of my social media feed. Somewhere along the line, I stopped feeling good after spending time on my phone (temptation tipped into terror), and I would never know where that line was, well, until I had crossed it<\/mark>. There was a time when I left these platforms carrying inspiration, feeling just a little lighter than when I had arrived. But somewhere along the way, that feeling disappeared. In its place was a grimy film that slowly settled over my perception of myself and the world around me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not here to demonize iPad time (mind you, my phone unbricks Insta @ 9 PM every night, and best believe I\u2019m clocked in when she does) <\/mark>or even try to persuade the masses away from smart devices (a different battle for a different day ;)), but rather scrutinize the boundaries we set (or lack thereof) around them. It\u2019s undeniably not my fault that I gradually and unwillingly amassed a mental addiction to scrolling mindlessly on my phone.<\/em> Nonetheless, it is my responsibility (they love to hate that one) to rewire my brain so I am not so reliant on the immeasurable amount of instant gratification it gives me.<\/em><\/mark>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest consequence of living in such a digitally convenient age is how the mental expectation of convenience and instant gratification permeates all areas of one\u2019s thinking.<\/mark> To a certain degree, everyone is chronically impatient because of it. That restlessness or intolerance, even for being patient, being unstimulated… being #BOREDASF #DOINGNOTHINGASF<\/mark> (if you can even remember what true, no-phone, no-TV, no-music, I\u2019m-grounded-asf boredom feels like), lies at the root of a lot of negative social outcomes that we face today. Living in a state of constant stimulation isn\u2019t good for the nervous system, the soul, or your creativity.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presently, you have to practically bend over backward to be bored. Whenever I told my mom I was bored as a child, she would slyly respond, \u201cOnly boring people get bored,\u201d<\/mark> and that sentiment has aged so timelessly. Whenever I feel \u201cbored,\u201d what I\u2019m actually feeling is a lapse in unending stimulation. Boredom begets breathing room. Space between your thoughts and reactions. Yielding an expansion of time where you can observe your surroundings, observe how you feel.<\/mark> I\u2019ve been shifting from seeing boredom as a state that needs to be changed immediately to surrendering to the reality that I\u2019m just spending time unstimulated. It\u2019s no secret that some of your best ideas, solutions, and realizations come when your mind isn\u2019t swarming with constant stimuli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Precisely at this intersection is where the magnitude of Tapas<\/em> (self-discipline) arises. The challenge for me has been finding boundaries that are both sustainable and permissive enough to let me use my phone without letting it use me.<\/mark> Gaining cognizance and intention around when I reach for my iPad, what I reach for it to do, and how long I stay. Intentionally padding my day with pockets of \u201cboredom,\u201d where observation becomes sufficient, and presence isn’t tethered to productivity or a destination. More than anything, it’s about abandoning the belief that every problem demands an extreme solution.<\/mark> The answer, more often than not, waits for us in the grey. We are called to embrace both the discomfort and the beauty of that ambiguous place because the cost of unfettered freedom is learning how to live without absolutes.<\/mark><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P.S. S\/o to Leonie for letting me use her thoughts as a launching pad (and yes, she did consent to me sharing her name w\/ the group, don\u2019t play). Your curiosity, encouragement, and light reside within me. Love and miss you <3.
<\/mark>


<\/mark>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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