The Commonplace Book

I used to share what I loved on social media: books, poetry, travel, small bits of beauty from my day. It was fun at first. I felt like I had found a community of people who loved words and beauty as much as I did. But somewhere along the way, it stopped feeling healthy. Instagram became less a place to share ideas and more a space for influencers to sell things and themselves. Instagram is now one endless advertisement. Facebook and Twitter (I’ll never call it X) were both toxic cesspools of racism, hatred, and grievances.

Even when I wasn’t actively engaging with social media, I could feel it affecting me. It was stealing my time and destroying my attention span. When I traveled somewhere beautiful, my focus was not on experiencing that place, it was on capturing beautiful photos to share on Instagram. I felt pressure to read lots of books—and the right books—in order to post about them on Instagram. But that was a problem because I couldn’t even get through a chapter without feeling the urge to check my phone.

For so many people, this is the only world they’ve ever known. But I grew up before social media, even before the internet. I remember what life was like before I carried the entire world on a device in my pocket. The 1990s were my heyday. I remember getting lost, being bored, flipping through magazines, reading entire books in one sitting, having long conversations over languid meals. I remember the freedom and luxury of being gone for days or weeks with no way for anyone to reach me.

My next statement will age me—because older people always say this—but life was better back then.

Today marks 80 days since I deleted my Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. I quit because I didn’t like who I was becoming. I was spending hours a day scrolling instead of living. I refuse to accept that life has to be this way. I want something quieter, slower, and more meaningful.

The Commonplace Book

So I’ve started this—The Commonplace Book. A good old fashioned blog!

I’m not going to share it with my friends or try to gain followers. I don’t want to be an influencer or make money. It’s just a space to share what I find good, true, and beautiful. A place to collect what matters to me.

And if you happen to stumble upon this place, maybe it can be a little breath of fresh air away from the noise. I’ll be posting soon; probably a book review, I’m in the middle of a really good one. Until then, I hope you notice something beautiful today.