new year, new you? Three RAZZ writers share their own New Year’s Resolutions, as well as revealing whether they have stuck to them during the first weeks and months of 2022.
social media usage At the start of this year (ironically while watching a video on my phone about how to make more time for reading), I decided to cut down my time spent using my beloved and battered iPhone 7. I figured that, rather than committing to a certain number of hours off per day, I would cut out an entire day of the week completely. What better day to pick than Sunday, a day that should be spent chilling out, having a tidy up and preparing for the week ahead, rather than trying to obsessively track the inception of the latest meme tweet format? If I hated it, it was only one day a week, and I could go straight back to watching Stacey Solomon’s house renovation Instagram stories on Monday morning. Many of us no doubt spend most of our time with our phones clutched in our hands, our vision deteriorating for the sake of another ‘material gworl’ TikTok. True, phones can be used for good (I have learned words I never knew existed thanks to Wordle), but I had started to feel a bit sick looking at my screen time data. I confidently asserted to friends and family that if they saw me posting on a Sunday, they should feel free, nay, duty bound, to send me an aggressive text telling me off. When I decided to write this article, I had high hopes of being able to say that every Sunday I have been outside, touching grass, reading books, cooking delicious food and not once even considering opening Twitter. However, those hopes were dashed not even a week later, when I entirely forgot about my resolution and spent almost the whole of the Sabbath on TikTok in bed. Since then, I’d love to say I’ve got back on the digital detox wagon, rather than being dragged unceremoniously behind it, Instagram story-ing the entire thing, but that would be false. I have been on my phone every Sunday since. Sometimes, we are not strong enough for our New Year’s resolutions, and I am woman enough to admit that occasionally all I need when going through a rough patch is to watch babies on TikTok (I can highly recommend the accounts @maiaknight and @lewwni if you too enjoy nothing more than BabyTok). Sure, there have been times when I’ve naturally not reached for my phone while with friends, and I would love to have more time to read, but over the past couple of years, many of us have used our phones and social media as a sort of comfort blanket, curating the content we like to consume on bad and anxious days. While I’m still battling deadlines and reading still feels like a chore thanks to my English degree, I’m prioritising my mental health – and if that means being terminally online, so be it. Caitlin Barr, Print Editor
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