Happy & Healthy

Is there life after likes?

I could sit here spinning a few sentences around it, but I don't feel like it. We're going to keep it short and powerful today! I'm addicted to my phone. And especially to likes. To the likes I get for the blogs I write, but also to the likes for things I post on Facebook and Insta. Give me a like and I'm happy, give me ten likes and I give myself a pat on the back, give me a hundred likes and I go crazy, hurray.

So, that's out. And that already feels good! Part of the problem is recognizing the problem, I've always learned, and you see: I recognize that I have a problem. To show that I'm really not exaggerating, that I'm really not talking about just a trivial obstacle in my life, I will now sketch some daily situations that show that things are quite serious with me.

Situation 1: Waking up

The first thing I do in the morning, mind you, the very first, is not to give my partner or my children a kiss, but to grab my phone and see what has happened on Facebook and whether there are any new likes or comments on my blogs or Facebook or Instagram posts. And until I leave the house, I think I check it about fifteen (!) times. In the bathroom, while having breakfast, while getting dressed, yes, I can't make anything else of it. And you know: when I've dropped the kids off at daycare and I'm getting on my bike to work, I also casually check it another 15 times, because then I finally have some nice time for it. On. The. Bike.

Situation 2: Camping

I have a mobile home at camping Bakkum and the reception there is really mega super bad. Well. You would think that I would take the opportunity to be off the radar, but my addiction is so persistent that I think I try about thirty times a day (!) to load Facebook or Insta, and otherwise just Facebook or the Amayzine app again. I'm really painfully slow to learn, every time I hope it works, and every time I get online I'm proud that it worked. And if I see a like or something or read a nice comment, it feels like I've received a gift. An expensive piece of jewelry or something. Yes, I really find it quite bad myself, but it is what it is. Moreover, it really feels nice to get the feeling of expensive jewelry when you're camping, because when you go camping, you feel anything but chic and expensive and jewelry-like.

Situation 3: In public transport

When I'm on the tram, or on the bus, or on the train, I sometimes try not to look at Facebook, because I actually find everyone staring at their phone in public transport pathetic. I think things like: for heaven's sake, what sad people here in the tram, it's not that hard to put that phone away. But then I really only manage to do that for two minutes. Before I know it, I'm automatically feeling for my phone in my pocket again. And if I don't feel it there, my heart always stops for a moment, do you guys have that too? Then I really start searching everywhere like a maniac to then feel it in my other pocket. And then it feels like I've found a diamond.

Situation 4: During a bad day

If I've had a bad day in real life, but I've scored a lot of likes on my latest piece, then I've temporarily forgotten that whole bad day. Then I feel totally in control of my life and I'm capable of great things.
I don't quite know what great things, but then I say: fill it in yourself, you can surely come up with something, as long as it's something famous, then I'll continue with this piece.

All jokes aside: lately I've been feeling increasingly worse under this addiction. Because I also see that in the end it doesn't yield me anything substantial (although it is nice to know that people enjoy reading my blogs). I see that I'm missing out on many beautiful valuable things in real life. That's why I've even tried to detox by setting my phone to GRAY TONES. A famous trick. But I must admit: that has still failed miserably. And that's quite bad: now I'm officially one of the peeps who is fused with her phone. I genuinely wonder: will I ever get rid of it? Or has this become my new life? Has this become our new life? Is there life after likes?

To be continued.