We learned not 24 hours ago that we are spending at least a Friends-episode's-worth of our day scrolling down our Instagram feeds and watching other people's lives on Insta-stories.
Social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook have also been linked to increased instances of anxiety and depression in young people.
The algorithms used on these platforms have also been noted as the reason many of us were shocked at the Brexit result. The phrase 'echo chamber' was adopted as what was occurring in the online world.
Many people have been carrying out their own 'self-care' by blocking certain people from their feeds or deleting various accounts - hoping that by performing a @realDonaldTrump-ectomy we will relieve ourselves of the stresses of fake news and thunderous opinion.
However, Aziz Ansari, star of Parks and Recreation and Master of None, has taken it a step further and absconded from the internet completely.
The 34 year-old actor and comedian, spoke to GQ Style and told them that he has gone totally analogue, bar text message and calls. That means no social media, no internet browser on his phone, no nothing!
He explained that the internet had basically become an addictive commentary of competitive sport, opposed to a useful news source.
Whenever you check for a new post on Instagram or whenever you go on The New York Times to see if there's a new thing, it's not even about the content. It's just about seeing a new thing. You get addicted to that feeling. You're not going to be able to control yourself. So the only way to fight that is to take yourself out of the equation and remove all these things. What happens is, eventually you forget about it. You don't care anymore.
The new life he describes sans internet does seem like an appealing one he tells the magazine,
All those websites you read while you're in a cab, you don't need to look at any of that stuff. It's better to just sit and be in your own head for a minute. I wanted to stop that thing where I get home and look at websites for an hour and a half, checking to see if there's a new thing. And read a book instead. I've been doing it for a couple months, and it's worked. I'm reading, like, three books right now. I'm putting something in my mind. It feels so much better than just reading the Internet and not remembering anything.
Book? What is book?
It look like the circus that is the Trump administration and the guffaw it has created might have played a part in his decision to switch off,
I was reading all this Trump stuff, and it doesn't feel like we're reading news for the reason we used to... It seems like we're reading wrestling rumours... When you take a step back, it all just seems so sensationalised.
He concluded:
'I'm not choosing ignorance. I'm choosing to not watch wrestling.'
How wise can a man get?
P.S. If Aziz doesn't have the internet then there is no chance of him reading this...Aziz, I love you.
Daisy Murray is the Digital Fashion Editor at ELLE UK, spotlighting emerging designers, sustainable shopping, and celebrity style. Since joining in 2016 as an editorial intern, Daisy has run the gamut of fashion journalism - interviewing Molly Goddard backstage at London Fashion Week, investigating the power of androgynous dressing and celebrating the joys of vintage shopping.
