in search of alternative inspiration
on deleting social media temporarily, anologue(ish) ways of finding inspiration and getting my curiosity back
In the first sex and the city movie, carrie bradshaw throws her hot pink swarovski-encrusted flip phone off the top of a mexican cliff after receiving a voice mail from mr big. In dramatised slow motion, the phone goes flying in the air and lands in the ocean. It’s entirely theatrical and completely ridiculous and yet… it was exactly how I felt a couple of weeks ago about my own phone.
At the end of june, I went to glastonbury and spent the extended weekend being silly, dancing until the sun rose with my friends and of course, screaming to charli xcx for the entirety of her 1 hour set. Over the course of 5 days, I barely spent any time on my phone, only using it sparingly to locate my friends in the sprawling somerset fields or take very questionable photos and videos at my favourite sets.
The day I returned back home to london, I found myself riddled with covid and confined to the walls of my bedroom. With very little brain capacity for anything else I passed the time by endlessly scrolling on my social media feeds in between naps. By the time I was able to leave the house and use my brain again, I felt so sick of social media that I impulsively deleted the instagram app off my phone. That monday morning, I immediately felt lighter.
But not long after, I noticed myself swapping one vice for another and found myself doom scrolling on twitter and tiktok instead. Consumed by an overwhelming urge to throw my phone out the window a la carrie bradshaw, I deleted all my social media apps and vowed to quit cold turkey. Or at least temporarily.
I’m self-aware enough to know that my relationship with social media already borders addiction on an average week, but after an intense stint of eating instagram for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I became overwhelmingly conscious that I was passively consuming content, letting it wash over me without really learning or gaining anything from it. Inevitably, my diet of endless scrolling left me feeling empty and extremely uninspired.
In an effort to remind myself that I am in fact a real person, with real interests, existing in the real world, I’ve spent the last couple of weeks actively seeking ways to find inspiration that don’t involve a phone screen. I set myself the challenge to find inspiration in physical places, beyond social media’s algorithimised feeds, and to engage and interact with the real world again. I wanted to remember what it feels like to discover things organically: through listening to the radio, through spending hours at the library poring over the pages of books and magazines, through skim reading the first few pages of books at the bookshop, through scribbling down bits of information that capture my interest and going down research rabbit holes.
In search of physical stimulus to capture my imagination, I paid visits to some of my favourite places across the city: the barbican library, the tate modern and my local bookshop. On each of these trips, I went with very little agenda and let myself follow whatever took my interest. Sometimes, I ended up being most captivated by the things I least expected: an old man recreating his own version of gerhard richter’s cage painting or a book about sand talk and indigenous thinking. These moments reminded me that creativity and inspiration can exist everywhere if we give ourselves the space and time to go looking for it.
Admittedly, some of my activities have not been entirely analogue - I’ve also spent the last couple of weeks going down internet rabbit holes too. These rabbit holes looked less like doom scrolling short-form content and more like wikipedia hyper-fixations with hundreds of open tabs on my browser. I’ve gone from trawling through the prada archives to researching the set design of hitchcock’s north by north west, and discovered the gem that is are.na to collect and hoard all my new explorations. Whilst I’m still spending a considerable time online, I’ve found myself excited and delighted by the internet rather than being distracted by the noise from social media. For the first time in a little while, I feel like I’ve actually been paying attention to my brain, feeling a little more in tune with myself and engaging with the world in a more meaningful way.
I won’t claim to be fully healed or free from social media - I still frequently check instagram.com on my browser (guilty!!!) - and I’m sure I’ll eventually re-download the apps on my phone - but for now, tuning into the real world has made me feel a little more alive, a little more present and a little more curious.
here are 5 fun ways to seek inspiration outside of your phone screen
Go to the museum or the gallery, spend some time looking at physical art and artefacts
I got totally hypnotised by a bridget riley painting at the tate last week and forgot where I was for a few minutes. being in the physical presence of art reminds us to slow down and engage more meaningfully with what’s around us
Go on a long walk or, sit in your local park, mooch and spend time people watching
I find that the best style inspiration is from observing people in the real world rather than from overly curated images we see online from influencers or creators. You can do this alone or with others - my friend Olivia (hi liv!!) has nailed the art of mooching down to a tee and I love yapping with her whilst we go spotting for the best outfits on the street.
Watch a movie
I’ve written at length about how much I love the cinema before, but it’s really the greatest place to be exposed to all sorts of creativity, and away from distractions. If you can’t make it to the cinema, watch a film that’s been on your watch list for a long time - maybe watch a classic, or a new genre you don’t normally watch, you might be surprised!
Get yourself a library card and peruse at your leisure
My favourite thing to do at the library is gather a big pile of books that look interesting, sitting down at a table and poring over the pages for any inspiration. I don’t normally take all of the books home but I’ll probably end up taking at least a couple home… and the best thing is it’s all free!!!
Listen to the radio
To help me discover new music, I’ve been exploring music from all corners of the world through NTS and the radiooooo app. there was only so much chappell roan i could listen to on spotify’s recommender system and brazilian music has especially won me over this past couple of weeks
thanks for reading! hope you’re all having wonderful summers so far now that the sunshine is finally out <3
You wrote my thoughts! Thank you.
Absolutely love this post 🤍