A

slow

Instagram

story.

Instagram has always quietly triggered my anxiety especially when I would subconsciously compare myself to the people I follow. At the same time, I’m conscious about social media’s effect on the way I think, so I try to be mindful about who I follow, what I follow and how often- always considering how much something effects me in a positive or negative way.

When Instagram introduced their snapchat/story feature and the ability to tap/swipe through them instantly, after the first month of using it, I could tell right away that this was going to shorten my attention span and that was a big no-no for me.

SHORTENING OUR ATTENTION SPAN IS UNHEALTHY.

In the marketing world, attention = monetization (think YouTube). Therefore our attention is constantly being pulled, and monetized as we consume more and more media. At this point we feel more comfortable being surrounded by white noise with all our devices playing at the same time in our homes than being inside the quietness of our own thoughts. 

In order for the mind to develop and grow, we need to give it a break and provide time and space for reflection and moments of introspection to think about our thinking. 

Having little to no time and space for reflection leaves less room for appreciation. Having little room for appreciation means finding less to be happy about.

The

mission.

Since I try to be mindful about the online content I follow, I can’t help but take what I post online into consideration as well. To simply put it, I want to provide a break for my friends on Instagram and slow down the fast pace-ness of content consumption- in this case, Instagram stories. So my mission is to share and demonstrate what slowing down looks like for me throughout my day to day living. Capturing long moments of mindfulness like preparing a meal or making tea in silence, focusing on one thing and appreciating all of its parts, in hopes of getting my viewers to participate in a “slow movement,” together. 

Who knows if my videos will actually help with our attention span (this is still a work in progress), but if I can make one person feel relaxed for just a moment, then I think it’s worth a try.