Evan Seklecki
I spent my first hour on the internationally popular social media platform Instagram. This is a platform I was use quite often so it was interesting doing so in a more self-aware manner. It allows you to follow pages that post content that may be of interest to you thereby being extremely personalized. In my case the content that I choose to follow is not as wide of a variety as I thought it would’ve been. The majority of what I saw was sports content with an emphasis on American Football and the New England Patriots which is my favorite NFL team. I learned about different players and how they were playing on their respective teams along with other news and highlights from other sports like hockey, baseball, and basketball. There was also a considerable amount of content focused on either fitness or healthy aspects of lifestyle such as healthy eating and meditation. Most of the other posts were simply entertainment. Funny or interesting videos and memes that don’t really serve any purpose other than providing momentary pleasure. There are some pages I follow that are news and politics related but they are greatly outnumbered by the more trivial pages.
For my hour in a natural setting I decided to do something that I already love to do and that is play frisbee golf at Bluemont park in Arlington, VA. I do this often, but I’ve have never done so with this kind of intentionality. The park is beautiful this time of year. I arrived shortly after 10 am so as to not experience the afternoon rush that can sometimes be seen at this popular family spot. It was a cloudy day and the of the trees and grass were dulled but warm. There was a woman walking her dog and looking down at her phone, reminding me why I was there. I first noticed the temperature and I wish I had worn shorts. I decided to take my shoes off in order to feel the grass and dirt under them. To get closer to nature. As I played the first hole, I took my time walking to get my frisbee. There was a squirrel facing down a tree trunk strategically going around as to avoid me. A bird fluttered from the brush, startled. It was very quiet. I could hear the rumble of the road over the hill and the wind through the trees. As I continued to play, I part of me felt like I was intruding. The bare fields and the paved roads seemed out of place in between the forests and creeks. I wondered who would have been in this area centuries ago and how they would react to seeing their home in such a way. I am glad though that we have places such as this in Arlington to retreat to for peace and recreation.
Something I noticed during these two hours is the difference in my thoughts. When doing the one hour on social media I did not experience much that encouraged independent or critical thought. It was simply repeated consumption that will probably not serve me in the future. When I was at Bluemont park though I was able to let my mind wander and contemplate in a way that my mind is usually too busy for. It lets you get back to who you really are without any outside influence shaping your perspective. Consuming content on social media may not benefit you but it sticks with you and affects how you live. Being in nature lets you just be.