I have a sign on the back of my backpack – #JourneyAboutHome – and if googlised there would be very few hits. That’s fine, because the sign is primarily there to start conversations, real in the moment ones…

I also have a t-shirt, given to me by a friend when I began. It reads ‘be open to the presence of love’. As I dashed to the supermarket yesterday it caught the eye of Aidan, and we had a brief but connecting conversation. These are the moments.

As much as part of me would really love to actively share my journey on social media, I have chosen to do that minimally. I am certain that doing so would undermine my message about the importance of having spaces that serve our wellbeing. And social media is a toxic, manipulative space, and I want to play a minimal part in it.

Analogies with other industries

The US Surgeon General made an analogy between tech companies and 20th-century car giants, when they were producing vehicles without seatbelts and airbags. Our own Children’s Commissioner has said much the same thing. Few today would dispute that cars without safety features are unsafe, yet legislation had to be put in place to mandate car safety features to get us to where we are today. The idea here is that social media needs regulation because it is not safe. It is running rampant over our societies and disconnecting us from what matters to live well.

Another analogy I personally like to use is with tobacco companies. Tobacco companies knew as early as 1959 that their products were harmful. Yet even still, they added chemicals to enhance the addictiveness of their products. Social media platforms have been designed to keep us scrolling, to be as addictive as possible.

In a previous post, I defined home as the absence of manipulation. I highlighted how most of our spaces are designed to exploit our inherent psychological biases primarily with the purpose of making money, irrespective of the consequences to our wellbeing.

Social media is no different. If anything it is far worse, because through the combination of big data and algorithms the manipulation can be uniquely tailored to each one of us and we get lured into engaging with it against our best interests and easily find ourselves overusing it. The potential for addiction, and therefore profit to the tech firm, is maximised. Social media also reaches deep into our personal spaces, which has come to make even our physical homes, or wherever we use it, unsafe.

Duty of care – to ourselves and others

I am mindful of all the personal time and energy that would be needed to craft updates about my journey to maximise its impact. I do not enjoy being on my own in front of a small screen, when my wellbeing would be better served by spending good quality time with the people I meet along the way. A good conversation can go a long way when it comes to happiness. It can plant a seed and inspire. Or I might be better off sitting peacefully watching the world in my tent as I rest up for the next day, maybe reflecting on writing a long form blog post like this to get a concrete idea over.

If I’m not happy myself, then what credibility does my message have?

But if we’re posting on social media, we also have a duty of care towards others. The most popular social media posts are popular not necessarily because they are good and say anything worthwhile, but because they feed the machine – they increase the likelihood of others succumbing to addiction.

To explain this, if the algorithms pick up that when people read something on a specific social media platform and that there is a tendency for people to leave that social media platform after they’ve seen it, then such social media posts will cease to come up in people’s feeds. The best social media posts, from the tech giants perspective, are those that keep people online for longer (including the person that posted it), and those are the ones that tend to appear in our feeds.

In my opinion, the best posts are the ones that encourage people to get off their screen and connect with what’s around them – other people, nature, how they feel inside, and what they may need. That’s the surest way to enhance our wellbeing. But such posts will never appear recommended in our feeds, because they don’t serve the interests of the social media platform.

Simple and targeted

I’d prefer not to even try and participate, no matter how important my message. I’d rather we all concentrate on living our lives offline where the real wellbeing is found, in connecting with what matters – quality relationships, our health, having strong beliefs and values. That’s the key to a happy-fulfilling life and one message of this journey. I have to live that message as best I can even though the wider system may encourage me to do differently.

I doubt the online world will take us in the direction we need to go – at least not in its current form. And even with legislation to protect us, I have my doubts and I believe that the underlying incentive of profit at all costs is a major social problem.

A key learning from my previous journeying is to always let things happen when they happen. To not force things. To stay open. Whenever I’ve tried to bring attention to my ideas that isn’t in alignment, is about feeding my ego, or that is expectant, it has never worked out in the way I had intended. What’s worse is that all the effort has often left me debilitated and unhappy.

So, on this journey, I’m trying to do the things that feel aligned – to stay connected, such as sharing blog posts like this one, here and there, for instance. Some of them have been partly written ahead of time to bring attention to various topics and things happening in the UK to enhance our wellbeing.

My journey is visible online, but I am keeping things simple and targeted. To keep a focus on my journey and sharing with those I meet along the way rather than trying to force anything. There might be the odd photo here and there. And there is the hashtag on the back of my pack, which if nothing might have people reflecting on their own ideas about home. There is always more happiness to be had in living simply, authentically…prioritising connection with everything that is around us.

*** Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I’m currently trying to walk from Edinburgh to Croydon. If you’d like to keep updated then check out this page from time to time.