Mindfulness online and offline (Jennifer R. Hubbard)

This month we’re revisiting the approaches to 2018 that we outlined in January. Back then I wrote about being online mindfully, discussing some of the ways in which I try to keep social media and the internet from impinging too much on the rest of my life.

I still do all the things I listed there: keep my phone turned off most of the time, get online only from my desktop, take daily walks without gadgets, retweet a beautiful picture at the end of every Twitter session. And it’s still working for me. New gadgets and new social media sites don’t tempt me. I’ve never had a Facebook account and don’t plan to start now.

The internet is full of wonders, information, connection. I love the ease of finding directions to a hotel or restaurant, emailing a distant friend, ordering items I can’t find in nearby stores, seeing pictures from the other side of the world, finding recipes that will use up my CSA vegetables. And then ... I like to step away.

I like the offline world. I have just spent three minutes staring at the pine branches outside my window.

My challenge in 2019 will be mindfulness in my offline life: more hikes, more talks with friends and family. More mindful attention to what projects I choose to write. Letting go of what I no longer need.