1024th Friday Blog Roundup

When I grow up, I want to be my kids. They have much firmer boundaries with protecting their emotional health and sticking to them than I do. A case in point: when content on a social media site made them feel distressed as they scrolled, they signed out of the account. They need to log in via a computer to see their account, making it unlikely they’ll go on more than every few days. Enough to check up on people, not enough to get them upset.

They are the Michael Pollan of consuming creative content and information (consume content, not too much, mostly heart-filling things).

I noticed the same reaction, and all I did was check more. I would see something upsetting on the app that caused me to set down my phone and worry. But then I thought, “I must recheck the app to see if there are more upsetting things.” And because I mostly went on social media in the evening after work, I was also carrying those last things I saw into bed, worrying about everything in the dark.

I wish I could tell you that I took the twins’ lead and logged out of the app. I didn’t. Social media is how I stay in touch with many people. But I did start to ask myself if I needed to recheck the app, reminding myself that I had just checked it a few minutes ago and meditating on how the news makes me feel. My goal is to take my scrolling down to twice a day — two quick check-ins.

Let’s see if I stick to the plan.

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Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

And now the blogs…

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But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

Hopelessly Infertile and Surrounded by Fertiles comes to a profound thought while reading a romance book that applies to the political landscape happening right now. She explains: “So many people spend so much time denying women’s feelings and experiences. I want a space where women’s experiences and feelings and choices are respected.” As she points out, it’s not that we can’t make mistakes or change our mind; but sometimes you sense the character is leading the way, and sometimes you sense the author is making all of the choices.

The Barreness breaks down the current landscape, bringing in the personal including what she is doing to get her voice heard. This perfectly summarizes how so many of us feel right now: “I have found myself on more than one occasion staring off into space. Trying to figure out where the ground is, as everything seems to be floating in zero gravity.” That ending to the post — wow.

The roundup to the Roundup: Cutting back on social media. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between Feb 14 – Feb 21) and not the blog’s main URL. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week. Read the original open thread post here.