Going Back To Physical Media - General Disconnecting

I gotta say, in this day and age, physical media seems to be far better than our digital media options. With the rise of streaming servicing raising their prices and shoving ads in our faces, declining quality in media, lack of ownership, and the emptiness one feels after scrolling on social media, I wanna go back.

Most of my childhood was centered around physical media anyway, so it won't be too much of a transition for me. Before I was even born my family "cut the chord" on cable, so my only memories of media back then were from VHS tapes and dvds. Although we were early adopters of Netflix, we still prioritized cds, dvds, game disks and cartridges due to our poor internet.

Nowadays we mainly use streaming services for our music, movies, tv shows, etc. But we all feel the same discomfort knowing we don't own these pieces of media, and are tired of the increasing prices of streaming services and the constant cycling some of our favorite shows/movies do through different services.

So now we're deciding to go back a bit. We're cutting down on our subscriptions so we only have about 1 or 2 active streaming subscriptions going at a time. Meanwhile, we're starting to select certain shows and movies we like and purchase them on dvd, or buying cds/vinyl for music we like. I'm currently planning on getting a blu-ray drive for my computer, but in the meantime i've been greatly expanding my vinyl collection (mainly thanks to the fact that we actually have a really nice record store nearby).

While my parents so far still want to have a couple subscription streaming services, my plan for when I'm on my own is to not rely on any of these. I want to own pretty much all of my media and not get roped into some bullshit expensive streaming subscription eating at my disposable income.

Disconnecting

It's not just streaming services I want to step away from. Lately, I've been having some thoughts on my general media consumption and what I do during my free time. I realized I'm starting to go down the same path the majority of people my age go down, a path I tried so hard to avoid. The constant, time-consuming scrolling.

When I was younger I never really had this issue. I had the energy for hobbies such as drawing and writing, and felt far more fulfilled with how I spent my free time. However, as my school workload got heavier and my anxiety disorders worsen, I've started using places like Youtube, Tumblr, and Pinterest as a "sedative" for my brain. In my desperation to quiet the constant worrying thoughts from my Anxiety and OCD, I started to develop a scrolling addiction.

I tried so hard to avoid this. I always prided myself in being one of the few people my age who didn't spend all their time on social media, and who actually had hobbies. Now, I'm just like them. I don't want this to continue, and I'm gonna try to make an effort to stop this before it's too late and I'm wasting hours of my precious time just mindlessly scrolling to shut my brain off.

I think part of my issue is that my old hobbies aren't working anymore. I love to draw and paint, but when i'm exhausted and burnt out from school, stressed about college, and i'm still struggling with my untreated anxiety/ocd, the effort it takes to just get started making art has become too intimidating, and the very thought of drawing something is overwhelming.

That's why I'm trying new hobbies while re-discovering my other hobbies. So far I've found some success with keychain/jewelry making with beads. It's a pretty mindless activity where I can just pick beads that look nice then hook them together. I might also try getting back into photography because I'ts not too difficult to get started.

I've also been considering trying to write more, like I'm doing right now. Journaling, writing fanfics, original stories, and blogging, while taking more mental energy, barely takes any physical energy, which could be helpful for those days when I'm so tired that leaving bed feels like too much.

Anyways, I'm gonna try to find better ways to spend my free time, because this social media "sedation" has been leaving me feeling empty, more depressed, and has started to shorten my attention span (though luckily not as much as some of my peers, at least I can still read a book).