My fidget spinner is a Tamagotchi.

👽 Why I've replaced social media with a virtual pet

Happy 2023! I hope this is reaching you before “business as usual,” that the calendar change is still fresh and hopeful. I’m refreshed and determined because I’m still figuring out my year—what I need and how to bring those things into my life.

Since 2018, I’ve been figuring out what I need with Susannah Conway’s Unravel Your Year and Find Your Word. I unravel the year that’s ending and choose a word to guide me through the new year. No sweeping changes—just a gentle reminder to try my best to live with what I need.

Here’s a look at my past.

2018: BELIEVE

2019: ADVENTURE

2020: LIFT

2021: BREATHE

2022: CONNECTION

2023: ?

Some years, I really connected with the word I chose. But even when my connections with a word were so-so (like BREATHE), I still benefitted from taking time to tease out my honest feelings and intentions.

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This year, I re-read my past unravelings. My life has changed a lot since my first word, and so have I.

But as I was reflecting on what 2022 has shown me about 2023, I kept expressing a need to find ways to go “back.” I’m not looking to relive any year. The past is past. But I miss certain aspects of myself that I haven’t figured out how to achieve while being fully immersed in the tools of the present.

I’m talking about social media.

When am I not talking about my relationship with social media? The reason I started this Substack was, in part, because of my relationship with social media.

Social media is a killer for my creative process. For those who can use it and still be creatively productive, kudos. But I understand now that my creative brain has trouble juggling both. Even casual use of social media changes the way I think—the way I daydream and create. How present I am. I value feeling a sense of connection to people I know, businesses I support, and causes I care about. I’ve discovered a lot though social media—podcasts, books, and all my childfree spaces. But I need to step away and let my mind wander without any easy filler.

Enter: the Tamagotchi.

I bought myself a Gen 1 Tamagotchi months ago after having it “Saved for later” on Amazon for about a year. I actually never had an original Tamagotchi. I had Giga Pets as a kid (shout out to all my Digital Doggie owners!) as well as a few off-brand digital pets. I did get a Tamagotchi Connect in college, a nostalgic adventure with one of my best friends. I have a distinct memory of us playing with our Tamagotchi Connect pets on the boardwalk, and my friend got me Tamagotchi keychain charms for Christmas that year. I’m pretty sure I still have the charms.

Ah, being a weird college kid.

I tucked away my new “real” Tamagotchi for Christmas and started it up during my holiday break, at first, purely for nostalgia, and then, as a somewhat legitimate replacement for idle time spent on my phone. I started cutting back from social media on Christmas Eve, so I was prepped for Tamagotchi’s distractions.

In all honesty, a Tamagotchi doesn’t need that much “attention.” Hit “MEAL” and play that dumb guessing game a few times, and you’re good. (Still, I had a pet die while my partner and I went out for the evening. Lesson learned.) But a Tamagotchi needs enough to give me something to check other than Instagram. However, its distractions don’t stay with me. The Tamagotchi is a dopamine fix that I don’t think about very much.

Oh, and this adult is kind of an asshole.

I’m not leaving social media. I know that’s not practical. (Plus, I work in marketing. How bad is it to be a marketer who doesn’t actually use social?) I also know it’s not realistic to expect my connections to keep in touch with me on other platforms (e.g., my password-protected personal Wordpress blog).

I’m going to miss things. They’re going to miss things.

That’s okay.

We all survived in the times when people didn’t know everything about each other.

I still discovered when access wasn’t right there in my palm.

I know my 2023 journey into a less connected life won’t bring me to the same places it did years ago, but hopefully, I can get back some of the feelings and thought patterns I miss. The creative mind I need to get things done.

I already know, in the stretches between my social media check-ins, I’m more observant and reflective. For example, I noticed myself really paying attention to street names the other day.

I need this stuff. And once I’m in the right mind space, I need to write this stuff.

Looking forward to having you there with me,