Social Media vs. Pen, Paper & The Very First Computer

A reflective rediscovery.

The dishwasher is really taking up most of my attention. I have paused the Domestika course. I’ve started a timer for five minutes. I’m glad my cat, Midnight, is no longer lying on my lap. She has decided to lay on her more comfortable bean bag, like the princess that she is.

The yellow light emanating from the floor lamp beside our couch is helping set the mood for my writing.

I’m still unsure what to write about. The course is asking me to write about my passion. And if you ask me what my passion is, I’d say, reading and writing. I consider these two activities interdependent of each other. Thus, I count them as one.

There is only so much writing one can do without borrowing inspiration from books and there is only so much input from reading that one can take before the urge of expression takes over.

Reading and writing have such sentimental value to me because it reminds me of the close relationship I once had with my late paternal grandmother: my lola Lucette.

She was an English teacher in one of the public schools of our barangay. She taught me how to read and write at the age of three. I knew my alphabet song by heart at this age and knew how to spell tricky words that most adults had trouble spelling.

Because I only spent the weekends with my grandparents, I would miss my lola terribly during the weekdays. So every time I would miss her, I would write her letters. She didn’t want me to feel lonely, that’s why she gave me the idea.

Every Monday morning, I would begin to whine and complain and ask why I couldn’t just live with her. To which she would reply, “Dai, you already know how to write. So I want you to write me a letter every time you would miss me, okay? And by the time you know it, it’ll be Friday again.”

That’s when my lola would wait for me by our school’s cafeteria to pick me up. Because of her influence, my love for reading and writing grew stronger every day.

While writing letters to my lola, I discovered that I had an ability to paint with words.

She would read my essays & book reports, edit a few sentences, and always grade my work as “Very Good”. I would pretend to start other projects for school but was secretly anticipating listening to that “swishing” pen sound of what I would presume was another huge red checkmark on my paper.

Whenever she read what I wrote, I saw a sense of pride that emanated from her; a glow that meant I was her student and that she taught me well.

And then a voice in my head said, “Jo, this is the power of reflective rediscovery”.

Ever since I entered the world of social media, I’ve been shuffling through life mindlessly. It seems that I have allowed myself to become an avatar of the digital space. I’ve forgotten what I want and who I want to become — over and over. Trying and always failing to stop or control my need to be relevant in this space. After all, this is one of the many weaknesses of the human psyche: the need to be liked.

And this is where reflective rediscovery comes in. Without reflection, one would never be able to reach the point of gratitude, which then leads to self-awareness and self-care. It’s cyclical.

Reflective rediscovery allowed me to re-open the doors to daydreams that have long been shut. I’ve come to a point where I stopped believing in the possibilities of those daydreams anymore. Except that this moment has given me a change of heart.

The reality is, social media and technology are here to stay. And we continue to become witness to their rise in power as we watch the sudden fall of the corporate world.

I’m not implying that social media and technology are all that bad. What I want to point out is, that they are all vying for our most current precious commodity: our attention. We need to be intentionally selective of how we approach and incorporate them into our lives.

This brings me back to my Domestika course. The ad was offering a good discount on my Instagram feed. I couldn’t pass it up. I took out my credit card and made the purchase.

I was very surprised to learn that the course required us to handwrite our exercises. Immediately my brain started to rebel. Deep inside, I said “Oh crap. What a waste of my time and money.” This was the opposite approach to the result I wanted. I wanted to become a prolific writer.

Shaun Levin's process was to take a pen and paper (or notebook) in front of me, take a sip of any drink I preferred, light a scented candle, relax and just observe. Which is what I did.

And then thoughts began to flow. So I listened and simply wrote them down. He called it “the magic of where the pen wanted to go”.

It was a thrilling moment; what I now call the power of reflective rediscovery. The art of slowing down, taking my quiet observations to pen and paper, and allowing the story to take on its own form. I have forgotten that before there ever was technology, there first was the pen, paper, and the very first computer: our thoughts and emotions.

I wouldn’t have experienced this transformative way of writing, had it not been because of Instagram's algorithm; showing me what they knew I would eventually buy.

And so you see, my dear reader, there isn’t really a versus situation here. It simply goes back to “us” — the users. It’s always our choice. I now see that it shouldn’t be either this or that. It could be a combination of both.

So now, my invitation to you is this: go on your own journey of reflective rediscovery. Whatever medium it is that you’re comfortable with, whether it be painting, singing, or if you’re like me — reading and writing. Combine it with your favorite social media platform and see what happens.

Just be careful not to get sucked into that rabbit hole. But who are we kidding here? We are no match for that danged algorithm. ;)