Preface:
Hey y’all. So if you are reading this text on your phone, computer, or whichever device you are currently using, I am writing this on the Monday that I’ve started this social media detox. You probably might remember a time when I felt quite agitated about myself last Tuesday (9/8) when I posted some bizarre stories with bizarre messages and tone. Well, I have been feeling kinda “on-the-edge” about myself and how people like me enough to be their friend. I personally don’t enjoy having to feel like a nobody compared to other people and I certainly don’t like how it feels like some people don’t like me enough to be their friend; it feels quite diminishing and I will not put up with it. There was even a particular time when I started obsessing over someone, as she was a part of this “circle” of friends that I have here in San Antonio, but apparently, she didn’t seem to like me as much as she does with others in my friend circle. That made me feel awful, and the fact that she seems more well-liked than I do somewhat pisses me off. (for further reference, ask me about it and I’ll send you some information about this story on my blog). Also, please note that I’m not implying that I can’t be on the “same level” as my other peers; I am as “well-liked” as my other peers and I’ve grown since middle school whenever, at the lowest, I accumulated only a double digit amount of likes in a post. It just feels upsetting how detrimental this concept of “likes” would be to some who felt the same way as I did back in middle school. This type of topic ought to be discussed in social media, as I really don’t see this happening here. Anyways, this is my life and my stream of consciousness in a span of five weekdays going off the grid on social medias.
Abstract:
So this experimentation of abstaining Instagram and Snapchat offers an opportunity to retreat and escape from this madness that social media has implanted in our society. This experiment’s goal is to improve myself throughout five days, after having dealt with personal issues by many people I’ve encountered. This sabbatical would then make me feel more confident so that I can radiate that really well — not that I’m saying that I don’t feel confident at all, but I’m guessing that this venture would even increase more of that characteristic. This experience would pretty much serve as an opportunity for self-growth and improvement, and as an opportunity to heal after dealing with some personal problems regarding that girl I mentioned earlier.
Note 1: the names listed in this experiment are used with each individual’s permission.
Note 2: I understand this can be a lot to read in a sitting. I understand that you probably must have other things to take care of. If anything, the yellow text on Friday’s entry and the aftermath are the very important take-a-ways. I’m not expecting for anybody to finish this in one sitting (i get that), but at least try to read this through in parts. I’d still appreciate you for learning about my day in my life. 🙂
The Experiment:
Monday:
At around 7 am, I’ve awakened from my seven hour serene slumber derived from my sleepiness last night. As soon as I got my phone, I had accessed my Instagram app, only to check my last minute DMs before I had logged out for good. I did the usual morning routine: brush teeth, deodorant, pomade, and facial stuffs. Afterwards, I tuned into KSAT-12* to see what the reporters have to say around 9:30 in the morning. Then, I logged into my favorite literary criticism class (I’m not joking, it’s really enjoyable and worthwhile) to discuss a play we just read. Oh yeah, so this professor was taking roll and as soon as he called out one of my classmates, he recalled that he had to go pick up his homemade coffee and ran out the room to get it. As he did so, I literally saw him pantsless and bare when he ran out. I was quite flabbergasted at the sight, until I realized he was wearing a pair of “mustard-colored” pants that happened to just blend well (it must be the video call quality that enabled that illusion). I wanted to be like, “did he just run out of this class pantsless?” in the group chat, but he started to come back. So yeah, that was quite the highlight for that morning.
Afterwards, I had to complete my Latin homework (which is probably a harder language to learn compared to French, for example), and launder my bedsheets at the same time. Afterwards, I had to prepare a bit for this online Microeconomics** test — which turned out to be a repeat of most of the review questions along with some new ones; I got a 90 on it (shoutout to Jacob Clifford for helping me learn. If you’re planning on taking economics in school at anytime, check him out). Lastly, I completed some Linear Algebra problems on linear transformation.
Afterwards, I did a workout routine based around dumbbells — working on a bit of arms, legs and chest just to look and feel fit. It was pretty much a decent six sets of two different routines (three for each routine). I then showered and heated up a “lasagna soup” that I bought from HEB; it was a satisfying dinner surprisingly.
* a local San Antonio news station affiliated by ABC. it is quite similar to KPRC 2 in terms of graphics and everything
** I did actually pass with a 4 in AP Macroeconomics back in 2019. However, for some reason, the catalogue for college credit at my school does not consider the AP Macro credit as part of the social science credit, but it did count the AP Microeconomics course as a social science credit. So, I really had to start fresh for Micro. Of course.
Tuesday:
Literally 24 hours since last logged off of my accounts. This escape makes me feel good about myself. I started off with doing my usual morning routine, and then I cleaned around the room by making my bed, vacuuming, and reorganizing my desk area that was cluttered. I finally got around to making myself a wholesome and delicious breakfast that was pretty easy to make.
As I ate my breakfast, I researched on a core workout video to follow along in the evening. I found this one to do later on to engage my core and all that (courtesy of Fraser Wilson). and all that (courtesy of Fraser Wilson). Shortly thereafter, I then went to a therapy session to follow up for how I am currently feeling. It was pretty much a worthwhile one. I recall explaining how some people — who I dislike — are simply just a waste of space on this Earth and that some people are not really good human beings to me. Oh well it’s whatever, I could care less about how they are doing right now because they are meaningless individuals serving no other purpose than just to exist and the fact that I’m living well right now. Well, I’m going to start on British literature work now.
A couple hours have passed since I did some work for Brit lit, which included watching lectures and taking a quiz over them along with readings that I’ve already done — a got a perfect score of a 100. I then enjoyed some lunch and this lemon-lime infused water that I made.
There are pretty much health benefits that I’ve heard about drinking this, whether it be aiding in digestion or helping my skin. I then enjoyed watching a portion of this Netflix documentary, The Social Dilemma, on how social media causes ethical problems and issues towards society. Afterwards, I logged into my Linear Algebra class and learned about… well, Linear Algebra stuffs. At first, I got a little tired, maintaining my focus on what the professor had to say, so I had to stand up and stretch to keep myself awake. Then I finished up my HW for that class, despite the possible errors and mistakes I may have made, but decided to get it over with already lmao.
Yeah, my day isn’t really as busy as it was yesterday. I got to have time to make my bed, clean-up the room and everything. Overall, I am having a pretty good day: no one is currently crossing me right now, and I think it’s great. I am currently not dealing with assholes who crossed me in the past before and I think that’s great; it feels like they’re dead (to me).
As for that workout that I linked in this video, I killed it even though I felt kinda sloppy with some parts (I also did some other things to go along with that workout as well). I then took a shower, ate dinner and continued watching the documentary. Afterwards, I visited Youtube and saw a French video — a language that I studied back in 8th to 11th grades. Out of interest in this language, I decided to watch it and also start touching up on it a bit, as I want to sharpen my French skills before I go visit Paris in the summer (hopefully assuming that this virus de la merde is going away, which seems to be a possibility based on how I feel that a vaccine is coming and that we’ll have time to recover if anything). So yeah, that’s pretty much how my day went. I really have to start laundering my clothes (for sure tomorrow).
Wednesday:
Another day, another dollar. I am currently enjoying my Cheerios cereal drizzled in real local honey, poured with milk, and added some berries for a wholesome, detoxifying meal to break my fast*. I’m currently watching the typical KSAT news cast and its advertisements. Well, today’s plan would mostly consist of schoolworks and reading for all my classes pretty much. Also, I really have to do my laundry as well.
So I did my Latin lesson over chapter five, or as we Latin students call it “Caput V,” and honestly, this one is probably the most challenging language that I’ve ever learned so far. Not only do you conjugate verbs, but you also conjugate nouns — we call that process declension, which is really necessary to learn if you need to construct a sentence with subjects, direct objects, indirect objects, possession, etc. If I had a highlight from that class, it would be watching this really cringy and funny video that helps us learn about a particular thing with conjugation. I am not so sure if I want to link it on here, because it’s really cheesy and nerdy anyways; it’s basically a parody of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance. Afterwards, I had to tend to my laundry that I’ve started and as soon as I finished drying them, I brought them back to my apartment and logged onto the Latin reading zoom that I was slightly late for.
I then had a Subway lunch break around 2 pm and watched a Halloween episode of The Office where Andy tries to impress Robert California with an “adult” Halloween party. As soon as I finished, I was contacted by my friend, Angel, who reminded me of this Bible study session that my other friend, Javi, told me about. Right before Angel told me about this Bible study thing, I literally recalled about this thing; I also told Angel, in a second call, that I was in a Taco P mood afterwards, which is a dinner that we would end up having. So I told him that I thought about it and that I would call back to let him know if I’m coming or not. Well, earlier in the day, I asked my father if he sent a prescription to HEB Pharmacy for these pills. So around 3 pm, my mother texted me that the prescription was successfully faxed, so I would then call them like an hour later.
I started doing Linear Algebra homework which I only happen to manage completing 9 out of 17 word problems that were technically wordy and somewhat confusing. Generally, I honestly did not understand what I’m supposed to take away from these lectures. Rather than screensharing the typed guided notes, the professor wrote down everything from scratch; there were lots of x’s and w’s and dots and brackets and parentheses and proofs that were tedious to keep up writing on my physical notebook. I guess I learned about the different types of linear transformations, but really, it was doing the homework and a bit of outside research to figure out wtf is going on. I guess I’m more of a visual learner, as well as an intuitive one. The thing about textbooks is that they can get a bit too technical and not casual that we’d like. Also, it can get a little dry and not interesting; for example, I took Texas Politics last year and read the textbook and it just had extra, uninteresting information that can distract and divert the attention for actual information that students need — and I think it can get a little counterintuitive if you just wanna get the assignment done ASAP. Anyways, I looked into the Linear Algebra textbook, and it had really helpful things that explained the concepts I was supposed to learn yesterday.
It was 5:30 pm and I started making my way to the HEB Plus on 1604 and Bandera to collect those pills, as well as buy two Meal Simple dinners for Thursday and Friday (since the cafe on campus closes that early). As I completed shopping for those three things, I made my way to the car and drove back to my apartment. I then went to my room and started taking out my already laundered clothes out of my hamper and started organizing and putting up most of the clothing articles. I stopped with pants and shorts remaining and I started to get ready and go to that Bible study thing that was set to start at 7 pm.
So I got to the place where Javi and Angel told me to go to; it was this really nice guy’s house. As I parked on the side of a neighbor’s curb, I called up Javi to see if he’s there. As soon as Javi confirmed his presence, this man with a Young Life** Sharptop Cove shirt and a nametag showing off his name — a name that I’ve heard my friends mention before — and came up to me, calling me “poopydavid” upon first encounter. He did advise me to go park behind the red GMC, as the curbside I was parking along wasn’t favorable to the neighbor. So I happily did just that and then got out and walked towards the front of the house. By default, I was wearing a disposable mask as a sign of courtesy and safety to the host of this (small and safe — don’t come at us) social gathering. Noticing a lack of masks (not that it bothered me) on people, I casually inquired, “Is this a maskless party, or what?” The host, eager to debunk any claims of a party, told me that “whatever makes me feel comfortable.” So I decided to pull down my mask as a way to feel vulnerable (in a good way).
So this was a small, socially-distanced bible study session that mostly captured the atmosphere and essence that Young Life tends to yield, despite this function not being directly tied to the organization itself. We simply talked about community and everything, and how we can grow closer to Jesus as we are a loving community that care for each other. It felt nice to be in an environment where I could feel the hospitality and warmth that radiates in the name of Jesus Christ. If anything, reflecting on how I feel about myself and these personal issues that I have***(e.g. with this “sunflower” who I resent and hate because it felt like she never cared about me as much as she did with others), I felt that I’ve somewhat strayed away from Christ in a way — that I wasn’t really nearly perfect. Well, I mean no one is really perfect as everyone “falls short of the glory of God.”**** Afterwards, with the icebreaker activities and all that, we hung around for a bit feeling a tad tired. We really hung around, chatting and watching the host’s dog do tricks and bark. It was around 9:45 pm that we left the house to go meet up at Taco P, where we ate tacos and chips and salsa and enjoyed everything that allows the establishment to be a popular place among San Antonians.
Those were really delicious tacos that I’ve enjoyed with five other people from that Bible study, as it was my idea to go there. As a fun fact, I actually introduced someone this place as she never went there before and she loved it. I got back to the apartment around 11 pm and started to sit here and write about this whole day. It is currently 12:30 am on Thursday and I have yet to put up some pants and brush my teeth and shower. Good night!
* did you know that the reason why “breakfast” is called that way because you’re “breaking your fast” of food within a 6-8 hour period of sleeping?
** a non-denominational, spiritual organization striving to spread to word of Jesus to every adolescent and young adults everywhere. I could possibly make a separate blog post about this.
*** I’m talking about how I hate certain people over something that they’ve done to wrong me. Let me know personally if you’re wondering the context behind the “sunflower” reference.
**** Romans 3:23
Thursday:
Oofs! The latest time I’ve ever slept ever since I moved here about a month ago was 1:30 am. Nevertheless, I still feel rested as I woke up around 8 am. I am currently eating the same breakfast I had on Tuesday morning with coconut water. I checked my gmail inbox and noticed the most recent email about contract judging. I lowkey forgot that that virtual forensics tournament* was still happening — well, I was aware of it happening, but I put that on the very back of my head since I haven’t gotten correspondence until now. Well, the host school figured that they didn’t need much judges than anticipated since it became small — and I’m okay with that. A little background about myself: I was involved in Speech and Debate back in my high school years as an interper. Our program is successful I would say; we had a National Champion in the Congressional Debate event last year and we’re proud of him. But yeah, I had experience in that and I wanted to see what virtual judging is like before I virtually judge for my high school (I mean, this could probably be another blog post if I wanted to). I also contacted my parents in a group chat about this free COVID testing opportunity for on-campus residents; they totally agreed with me taking it (which I’ll plan on it tomorrow).
Anyways, here’s a little fun fact about today: on this day seven years ago (in 2013), Grand Theft Auto V came out for the PS3. I cannot believe its been seven years since that game came out. I remembered part of that day when I got GTA V. It was at the Gamestop in Memorial City Mall — the old Gamestop that used to be so close to the ice skating rink. My father and I then drove to CVS on I-10 and Gessner to do a quick errand, and then, I finally arrived home to play the first mission where Michael, Trevor and Brad robbed a bank in a wintery small town. I had pre-ordered the collector’s edition of the game which included a map, bag, a Los Santos cap, and that cold-steel box case that once contained the actual disc for the game. Back then, I was a seventh grade Cornerstone** student having done all my Pre-AP homework to play this highly-anticipated game. Good times back in 2013 amirite? Where were y’all seven years ago? That be a great conversation starter.
Okay, so it is currently the afternoon right now (6:21 pm to be exact), and I’ve completed the schoolwork due sooner and everything. So for British Literature, I had to respond on the discussion board about two stories from Marie de France*** being given three prompt question in which I only needed to choose one. I essentially chose the first question since I could dissect and understand the whole prompt piecewise and I could easily apply what I learned from the lectures. Get this: it took me roughly an hour and a half to start from nothing, but skimming over and re-reading some particular passages, and that would be when I figured out some sort of a path for me to take. I then did some pre-planning on my writing discussion on how I’ll tackle the question and analyze the two texts. Finally, I got down to writing down an 800 word response to the question, as well as proofread and edit (kudos to Grammarly) — all of that in about ninety minutes as the discussion was due an hour and a half ago. Doing these things made me realize that school isn’t really just finding the right or wrong answers (in other words, objectivity), but rather looking at a medium, like a text, in a unique perspective and providing insights on the evidence that you bring up (subjectivity). Technically, it was still a discussion in a forum, so I wasn’t really worried too much about strict essay structure, nor going off (just a little bit) on a tangent. It is also worthwhile to understand how to communicate yourself to others, as that is key to scoring high and all that. I must say, I really outdone myself with such analytical and fruitful writing pictured below:
Afterwards, I had a brief lunch break and watched F is for Family on Netflix. Then I reported to my Linear Algebra class and actually understood the main ideas behind concepts. Afterwards, it took me about an hour and a half to finish up some really confusing and boggling word problems that are hard to understand. I feel that I do not understand what the question asks sometimes, or I don’t know how to approach problems; in other words, I’m lost. I got through them anyways and completed the homework, in which it turns out that it was going to be due on Friday tomorrow rather than today (well, I knew that, but I might as well finish it anyways since I assumed that the due date was today by 11:59 pm.).
I then started to keep in touch with a high school friend of mine (best buddy), who goes to UT Austin. I pretty much asked best buddy about the quarantine stuff and all that since I started keeping in touch with her. I also brought up the fact that she still keeps in touch with some Aggie friends of ours in College Station, and I asked if they ever wondered or thought about me. For sure, best buddy told me that she wondered about how I was doing at least, and the same thing from me to her too. I guess I ought to keep more in touch with people who I went to Spring Woods**** with. I mean, I remembered for a fact that we hung out a lot in my calculus teacher’s classroom during an hour long lunch period. The bright blue walls surrounding the classroom; a small group of clouds attached to the walls, and smelling that really potent cleaning chemical each time I enter the realm of room 126. But yeah, I hope they are doing well too and that I could at some point see them again.
Afterwards, I actually went to the Rec Center to workout for the first time since I’ve moved back here. Of course, I wore a mask, socially distanced from people and sanitized everything I touch. It felt nice checking it out and going back to the Rec after not having gone to it. I felt comfortable working out indoors and all that. I’ve been wanting to work out and improve myself and everything. I even prepared a lemon-infused water to hydrate while I was working up a sweat (I know, it’s a really clever idea). Honestly though, I pretty much wandered around and saw what was interesting, so I didn’t really have much of a plan going on since I was only checking it out for the first time since the pandemic hit. I honestly wasn’t really worried that much on the virus either — I mean, I am pretty mindful towards myself and others through the mask, distancing and sanitizing, like I understand how people needed to feel safe and everything so I do just that (not just because it’s “required” by mandate). Well, my father would probably not find this thing favorable as he thinks that gyms are dangerous during a time like this. I guess I understood where he’s coming from, being a doctor and all, but I’m pretty sure that people can still be fit safely and proactively. I’m like 20. I’d have to be an adult of my own and make my own adult decisions, even if it may be “unfavorable” for some. I mean, I felt good afterwards.
I then took a shower and ate one of my HEB Meal Simple dinners that I’ve mentioned yesterday. While I was making it and eating it, I had to start reading the classical Greek play, Antigone*****, for my Literary Criticism class. So about this play, I’ve actually seen it performed at Westchester****** four years ago. I was in tech theatre at the time and I saw the play with the technical aspects in mind and everything. I had some close friends performing at this production back then, and I enjoyed seeing them in moral support. Anyways, I remember how the play started off with a battle between two warring groups, who were really actors running around the auditorium surrounding the audience with their action. Then, the rest of the play started when Antigone first said her lines. I remembered the performance being pretty dialogue heavy and not a lot of action going on. Heck, I was surprised when my tech theatre teacher, who was also the director of the performance, informed his students that the war scene wasn’t even a part of Antigone in the first place. Anyways, flash forward to four years later and I’m reading the script of Antigone, and I must say that reading it seems better than watching it (no offense to the performers; y’all do amazing). Well, I pretty much had a history with this story.
Well I guess this is it. Surprisingly, it’s 12:15 am right now, but at least I’ll be sleeping earlier and all that for the last FULL day of my detox. See you tomorrow fam.
* By forensics, I mean “speech and debate.” For those outsiders who aren’t familiar with speech and debate, there’s more to it than just “arguing.” There’s also acting events too. You ought to understand that.
** Cornerstone Academy is a 6th-8th grade charter middle school that is a part of Spring Branch ISD. It’s pretty much an unusual, weird, and interesting middle school that centered around fun. Situated in Spring Valley Village, TX. The current building did not exist until around 2017, so I’m that old to have been in the old building.
*** Marie de France was a writer in the late 12th-century in present-day Britain who wrote these manuscripts, in which we call Breton lais, in the Anglo-Norman language (pretty much old French).
**** Spring Woods High School is my alma mater from SBISD. Home of the Tigers of Black and Gold.
***** (“an-TIG-on-EE”; not “an-TEE-gon”) a classical Greek tragedy composed by Sophocles which is pretty much about a woman burying her loved one against her king’s will.
****** Westchester Academy is an International Baccalaureate magnet school, also in SBISD, where it serves grades 6-12. That is where my older sister attended and graduated, and where I attended my freshman year (2015-2016).
Friday:
Good morning everyone. We’ve finally made it to the end of the school week. Well, I promised myself that I’d go to sleep earlier, but I actually ended up going to bed around 1 am. Oh well, it’s whatever I guess. I am currently trying out this vibing and chill place a bit off-campus. I am at this place called The Study Space for the first time. It’s basically near the intersection of UTSA Blvd. and Babcock. I am really liking the vibes here. The “Nutty Professor” coffee (toffee and hazelnut mocha) is really good and I am currently awaiting for this breakfast sandwich. I mean, it’s something different than Starbucks for sure. I really should come here more often. Hell, I might as well attend my favorite Lit Crit class here, with my Beats headphones on. It’s a fairly new location that probably opened while I was back in Houston. Well, I shall resume my reading of Antigone to catch up with that class by the way.
Okay so I am back in my apartment and I have finished reading Antigone; oof many people were met with such demises and all that (I’m not going to spoil it, of course, but it does qualify as a tragedy). When I was reading the play back in The Study Space, I was kinda having a hard time focusing, even with my Beats headphones on, mainly because I was waiting for my breakfast sandwich. It took until, like, 20-30ish minutes that it finally arrived which I had to call one of the server’s attention about it. I told the server if she’s “gotten any word on my sandwich,” so she recalled about it, checked the kitchen, and then finally got my breakfast sandwich. As I’ve said, I liked the coffee and the sandwich was decent. The ambience of the location was pretty chill and hipster like. That is the kind of business that I would have actually liked co-owning, as opposed to how I co-owned Doña Lupe* (no offense to pups). Honestly, I’d probably give this one a 3/5 stars — not that it’s bad or anything. It’s probably just the fact that I had to wait quite a bit for the food, and the music happened to persist through my Beats and all that. But, I mean, I like this place. I’ll be sure to revisit on Monday. And get this: a breakfast sandwich and a decent cup of hot coffee only costed me around $10 with a student discount in place. It’s really not too expensive for such a chic coffee shop like this one. And be sure you bring your student ID if you attend UTSA (or any school — I’m not even quite sure if that also applies high schoolers or whatever).
Okay, so I’ve completed my Latin homework which is quite a bit challenging (especially if you’re translating something, and you have to be dead-on with the translations). At one point, I decided to stop working on Latin to take a free COVID-19 test in the HEB Student Union. A laboratory firm was providing free COVID-19 tests to students. Particularly, my housing complex was on schedule to take the test; it wasn’t mandatory, but I figured that I’d take it just to insure that I test negative. I have taken many tests and assessments throughout my schooling career ever since middle school. But out of all the tests I’ve taken, this is the only time that I ever want to fail in. So I tried looking around the HEB SU to find where the testing location was; it took me a while to realize that it was taking place outside the building. So as I found a line-less entry to testing, I peeked inside and I didn’t see people or professionals inside. I crept in slowly and announced myself with a “hello” till someone said, “come on in.” So I went in and was introduced to a man who had a thick Latin American accent. He gave me some paperwork to fill and provided me hand sanitizer. After I filled out the paperwork and provided them my student ID and driver’s license, the tester yielded a long cotton swab and a test tube with my name labeled on it. He directed me to pull down my mask down to the top of my mouth, and as he swabbed my nostrils, I get these ticklish and slightly uncomfortable sensations as a result of deep penetration. Well, it wasn’t too deep or anything, but the swab made it as far as to make me squirm and laugh as a nervous tic. It didn’t take too long. If anything, it felt like taking a flu shot as a kid and not crying for the first time (which I should really arrange btw). I was then given these informational papers and infographics, made by the health professionals of Bexar County. I went back to my dorm and resumed with my Latin homework and finally a discussion on Blackboard for Lit Crit.
After having done all my work due by midnight today, I let loose and decided to play on the Nintendo Switch and rest. As I had the Switch online membership, I had access to a collection of SNES** titles to “stream” for enjoyment. Since Mario turned 35 this year, I played Super Mario All-Stars and started playing SMB2 — the one where you jump on top of enemies, pick them up, and throw them away. After I made it through World 3, I then switched over to SMB1 and cruised through two worlds. “You can enjoy sucking my firey, sexy, juicy balls Bowser,” is what I would proclaim whenever I enter a castle — referring to the fireballs that I would throw at him with the Fire Flower power-up. It was fun until I had to stop playing so that I don’t finish the game too quickly. Interesting thing that I learned about Mario is that the 3D All-Stars game actually came out today. It’s crazy how Nintendo decided to release a compliation of the latest 3D Mario games (minus SMG2, unfortunately), when I would have thought of that to be a fan made concept (but it’s actually real!). I didn’t feel like spending my monies and getting the game though, as I should’ve. One disappointing thing about it, though, is that the developers got rid of that “gay bowser” line for SM64; rip so long “so long gay bowser,” amirite??
Afterwards, I just grabbed an early dinner and finished The Social Dilemma documentary. It made some very interesting points about peoples’ wellbeing and fake news. Well, so I did start this “detox” experiment just to get away from it all, right? Well I learned some very interesting talking points that I believe that you should all be aware about. Former Vice President of Growth, Chamath Palihapitiya, claims that “we curate our lives around this perceived sense of perfection because we get rewarded in these short-term signals: hearts, likes, thumbs up — and we conflate that with value and we conflate it with truth.” That is something that I notice each time I ever go into the explore page and see many young people my age enjoying their lives and all that and get rewarded in hundreds, if not, thousands of likes on Instagram. That kind of reward is what I’ve always wanted to accumulate for all my seven years that I’ve had Instagram as @poopydavid. I’ve always wanted to keep on expanding and expanding to where it feels like that I’m on the same playing field as everyone else. I’m not saying that I failed to expand and reach the same playing field as other people and all that. However, whenever I see anyone around my age get like 500 likes (more or less) on a post, it makes me feel like they don’t really consider others. That they are just pretentious and selfish people who honestly don’t give a single care to those who wanted to feel as good as they do. And then I realize that everyone is just being pretentious on social media — myself included. Especially around the time when I was in eighth grade, for example, I felt troubled and somewhat inferior for not being on the same playing field as some particular friends, and other people, to an extent where I just resent some of them. I resent them for failing to support me and not giving me the same love and care that they get themselves. I mean, just because you’re an influencer, for instance, does NOT necessarily mean that you’re above me. I swear to God, there is no way in Hell that you’re considered above me if you get more likes than me (not implying to anybody how much I get or anything, mind your own business). Having a hell of a lot of likes more than me doesn’t make you better than me (or anybody for that matter). I don’t need anybody to shove their love accumulated by their followers right up my fucking face. You’re just going to have to understand that you are not better than me, or anyone else. You’re just going to have to understand that.
We evolved to care whether other people in our tribe think well of us or not, because it matters. But we were not evolved to be aware of what 10,000 people think of us; we were not evolved to have social approval dosed to us every 5 minutes.
Tristan Harris, former Google design ethicist (2020)
Well that last paragraph just got real compared to other paragraphs I’ve written. If anything, that paragraph ought to be emphasized more (I colored that one yellow for a reason). I mean, I don’t intend on attacking anybody or anything similar in that matter, but I’m just being brutally honest. And I do not mean to belittle anyone; I am not saying that I’m above them, but rather on the same level. So what Palihapitiya is really saying that we’re wanting “fake [and] brittle popularity,” in which people want more likes to fill that empty void. But yeah, that is something interesting that I’ve came across as part of the detox.
It’s been a pretty fun school week and all that. I managed to live the majority of five days without being on social media. However, I will be taking Saturday morning as a part of the detox too. That day would be dedicated towards writing about my bike ride ventures and editing and proofreading. Good night y’all.
* Doña Lupe Mexican Restaurant Bar & Grill was the name of the restaurant that my father and I used to own. We typically served Mexican food to our clientele in the Spring Branch area. I used to do most of the decorative stuff and run errands for that place, like write on a fun white board. I doubt that a lot of the Spanish-speaking families understood my Gen Z humor, but oh well, their loss.
** Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Originally released in North America back in 1991.
Saturday Morning:
Today’s the day when I will be coming back to social media since Monday morning. I figured that I can also go a little extra to compensate for being on Instagram and Snapchat Monday morning, for the purposes of logging off. I am currently eating breakfast and watching the newscast on the TV at 9:45 am. So I actually happened to wake up naturally super early, like 5 am. So I tried sleeping again, until I kinda gave up and looked into my phone for emails. Remember that I took a COVID test yesterday? So here’s the thing, I didn’t realize till this early morning that the outcome of the test could have the potential to affect my plans for the next two weeks and my livelihood. The moment of truth came in when I opened the email, typed in the passcode, and revealed the moment of truth — I tested negative. It was quite a relief to hear that since I don’t want to feel guilty for being outside yesterday or for using the same resources as my next door roommate. I’m glad that I don’t have to notify the university and self-quarantine for the next 14 days. Imagine how drastic my plans would have been over this one result. I’ll just finish up eating breakfast and go biking.
So I just finished up my hour-long morning bike ride and shower. It was pretty much a low-to-moderate cardiovascular activity where I biked around the streets of Babcock, Hausman, and Kyle Seale (as shown in the map). It was pretty chill and everything. I first started off the bike ride with a few warm-up moves, such as leg swings for instance, and then I started biking as far as Farris*. As I was crossing to the other side of Kyle Seale, I did so successfully (it was only a two-lane road), up until I got on the sidewalk of the opposite side and fell off — thus interjecting a vulgarity as a result. A black SUV was approaching towards my direction, in which a woman expressed her concern through her facial expressions. I waved back at her, followed by a thumbs-up to indicate my status of okayness. Nevertheless, her passenger side window rolled down and her daughter gave this old-fashioned and commonly used, “are you okay?” for situations where a person may not feel the status of okayness. I replied in the affirmative, of course, picked up my bike, and continued my venture. I really appreciate that people care for others, whether you know them or not, I suppose it restores my faith in humanity whenever I see a lack of it on vain social media posts. Anyways, I biked past Brandeis**, crossed that traffic light that serves as a three-way intersection between Kyle Seale and the school parking lot, and turned to Champions Gate. As I biked down the hill of Champions Gate, I was met with this really scenic views of the hills of Helotes and Cross Mountain. A type of view where I can oversee the hills in the background, while overlooking Farris. The neighborhoods surrounding me in Champions Gate reflects the idea of suburbia, where there were two-story houses that look similar to one another and the fact that they’re nicely subdivided into squares of land (synonymous to the Cypress area***). Anyways I rolled down the hill, and noticed socially-distanced people sitting on the bleachers wearing orange. I was assuming that Brandeis had a football game on a Saturday morning; I thought that was cool I guess. So I turned around and walked back up the hill, making my way back home. As I biked up to the intersection between Babcock and UTSA Blvd. (that’s how I knew about The Study Space btw), I did press the cross button, and soon as the walking indicator flashed that familiar person figure, I took one small advance only to have a right-turning grey truck appear before my eyes. Then all the left turning and right turning cars of the other streets made their advances while I just stood there like, “okay, I can wait.” I finally crossed to the other side of Babcock and biked past the green foliage, a neighborhood, and the Prado**** to cross to the other side of UTSA Blvd and onto the campus, where I lay my rest everyday.
Wow, so I guess this is it! I am lowkey excited to go back to Instagram and Snapchat and see what’s going on since I left. Well, I still understood what was going on in the world, like RBG’s***** passing for instance, but I honestly didn’t keep track of what was going on in Spring Branch, for instance. I sure enjoyed life without having to be on social media I suppose. Now that I’ve made it till Saturday afternoon, I shall log onto my Instagram account to catch up on some things. I have officially logged back in to my @poopydavid account — thus officially marking the end of this experiment.
* The Dub Farris Athletic Complex is a property owned by Northside ISD along Loop 1604, where huge athletic events take place. If you’re familiar with Spring Branch, it’s basically Northside’s iteration of Tully Stadium — but with more facilities.
** Louis D. Brandeis High School is a school owned by NISD, serving grades 9-12. It is home of the Broncos and their school colors consist of Blue and Orange.
*** a suburban area situated in the far Northwest side of Houston. It can be defined as a collection of upper-middle class houses. Cy-Fair ISD typically oversee this area education-wise.
**** an off-campus living complex situated near the intersection of UTSA Blvd. and Roadrunner Way/Barshop Blvd.
***** Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020) worked for the SCOTUS from 1993 up until her recent death. I’ve heard about her passing through news outlets. May she rest in peace, for she was a great influencer in American politics and change.
Aftermath:
Well, it is clearly evident that I have a life to more than just social media — as most of you should. If not, then what have you’ve been doing in life? It’s quite unfortunate that the “points/rewards” system that social media has instituted since their inception, and that it could lead to many harms of mental health and wellbeing among people. Former Facebook software engineer, Justin Rosenstein, brought up a point that “likes” were intended to “spread positivity and love in the world.” Regardless of such great intentions and everything, “likes” have become a point system that most likely a lot of people are trying to pursue and accumulate. In fact, there are some influencers who actually use likes as a way to monetize themselves. And I remember that because when I heard that Instagram was hiding the amount of likes in some countries and all that if you remember.
When [developers] were making the [Facebook] like button, our entire motivation was, “Can we spread positivity and love in the world?” This idea that […] teens would be getting depressed when they don’t have enough likes […] was nowhere on our radar.
Justin Rosenstein, former Facebook software engineer (2020)
And get this: I find it quite trashy that some people do not care enough about me to accept my friendship requests, or a mutual follow-back. It’s like they do not care enough about me. Like, what did I do wrong? Why do I deserve to feel rejected that way? I get that perhaps some people do not really see not following back the same way as I do. Or that they somewhat forgot. Or that I may be so annoying to them in a way? I mean, you should never degrade anybody because they seem to be so “annoying.” They are human beings like you. And you, yourself, are a human being who deserves to be treated well.
Another interesting thing to note is that I get a lot of unsolicited follow requests by people who I don’t know and/or those who are just plain unsettling. I’ve had many requests by accounts soliciting sexual favors or those who offer schemes, like free college money, as a way to associate with them. That is just wrong. Like, who the hell are these people and where do they come from? I’m guessing that you’ve probably had that same experience too with seemingly random people following you. I’m not saying that you should follow them back or anything — in fact, decline their requests if you need to for your safety.
I guess y’all ought to understand that there’s more to live than just likes. I’m not saying that I want to get a low amount of them in future posts — I want to keep on expanding, in fact. I would still like to keep on being on the same playing field as most of my peers as a way to feel included and everything. Well, allow me to make a blunt comparison, but I feel that the amount of likes on average and comparing that average to others can be as synonymous as comparing someone’s “peepee” size to another person; I’m pretty sure that one is more likely to feel inferior compared to other subjects due to their small magnitude of size. Sorry I had to be a little graphic, but my main point is that “likes” can be used as a measure to where people may compare to one another and would most likely lead to negative consequences in terms of their self-esteem.
Personally speaking from this experience, I guess it was a breather after having gone off the radar temporarily. I am currently feeling good about myself. I think I’m getting past the point of someone in particular that they’ve wronged me (they still wronged me and I still don’t appreciate what they’ve done to me), but I hope that this particular person and I could somewhat make up or something? I don’t know, that’s not the main focus in this experiment anyways. But I hope that I can still be thriving and growing both in myself and in networking. I honestly hope you read the whole thing — and if not, at least the most important parts of it (like near the end of Friday’s entry). But yes, pretty fun to write about this experience.
Also, if you want to see how I ranked my classes overall, especially how I thought about this during the detox, you may look into the picture below:
Empirical Data/Graphs:
Before the detox 
During the detox
Note how my social networking usage reduced by about a third of the week before the detox. I’m not sure why we still see dark blue during the weekdays, but I can assure you that I didn’t go into Instagram/Snapchat/Facebook.
Resources:
The Social Dilemma documentary on Netflix (account required)
poopydavid's blog 