Hello, peeps. I hope to be back blogging on a regular basis but that’s my word …. against myself.. It’s never easy to be back “blogging” per se. My social media platforms have been my usual outlet to share my personal stuff but hardly on my blog. You know, sometimes, it’s difficult to actually blog since I’m bogged down with work on my blog. It is still possible to blog as long as I set a time or a schedule. Blogging is definitely therapeutic for me so I will put this on my priority list. My head is full of thoughts and one way to make it lighter is to blog. So this will be my commitment for 2019.

So how does it feel after the social media purge? A lot of my friends have been wondering what were the impacts or side effects of detoxing myself. Frankly speaking, I have many thoughts about this, about blogging my “post social media purge.” Because for me, it has been open up a whole new level of mindset in terms of how I post on social media. The 12 day challenge saw a difference in how I handle social media for the current moment but it’s still early days to see if these changes will be consistent.

So what have changed?

• Spending less time with my addiction – the phone. I can’t say that has entirely changed. I have been spending less time on social media. From the screen time report, it stated that my habit has decreased by 1 hour LOL. That’s not a huge improvement but still good progress nonetheless. This is perhaps the hardest thing to do – to completely cut off social media in a long run. I have pledged to cut at least one hour of social media a day. Current fact: Did you know I spend at an average of 8-9 hours a day on social media? Basically that’s almost like 70% of my waking hours. It’s about time you check on how much you have spend on social media and you will realize how productive you are when you are awake.

• Being more present. This means if there’s someone in front of me or during a conversation, I will be less likely to play with my phone, scrolling or replying Whatsapp messages and I will give my full attention to the other party. This issue is quite common among us that we tend to be distracted by our gadgets and not giving enough respect to the person we are conversing with. Now, I become agitated when I become the victim. It’s like – “Yea, Rano, you deserve this for the countless time for not being present in front of the people you are communicating with.” My awareness level is very on medium alert and I am aiming it to be on high alert because I still have the tendency to check my phone quickly for 3-5 seconds LOL. My friends have told me that I spend less time on my phone when I’m around them.

• I feel way lighter. I don’t feel being bogged down with information which is always accessible through my finger tips. The more I know, the deeper I dwell into. That alone can be really draining when you have too much information to handle because your thoughts keep spinning in your head with all the questions, answers and opinions. Sometimes my friends will alert me of my name being featured on Reddit (maybe the most sought for news in Brunei nowadays) and I would be curious to know what is mentioned of me on any topic. Now, I don’t have the tendency to check on it even though my friends deliberately forward to me a screenshot from Reddit and that alone has made me feel way, way lighter and it’s a nice feeling to have.

• Phone tendency to be in pocket. Usually when I walk, either hand will be holding the phone. During the purge, it was mostly in my pocket because I have been “blacked out” to check on social media. It did feel naked at times because it was an uncommon habit. Again, I felt a similar feeling of freedom because I was being present with my surroundings. So, what happened after the purge was over? I won’t say that the good habit continued as I was still holding my smartphone in my hand from time to time. However, it has been lesser than usual and I just have to be more aware of it. If the purge would have lasted longer, it would turn into a natural habit.

• My phone gallery. Even with my smartphone, packing a huge storage of 256 Gigs, I was already reaching my limits. Because I didn’t do any posting during my purge, hence the need for me to take photos or videos was pretty low. In other words, I really saved a lot of space on my phone and it reminded me that it’s better to take photos that matters to me rather than simply taking videos or photos that serve no purpose to me. After the purge, the tendency is still lesser than usual. I am proud of it and it makes me more of an efficient photographer. No more multiple shots of the same pose or a particular scenario in an event. Well, I still do sometimes but I notice the decline in that habit of mine.

• Validation. Now here is an interesting take for me. As someone who is very relevant to social media and being the eyes for many, I created this feeling that I must be relevant and important to people. But at the same time, I sought for validation and this also applied to my daily life where I want to be relevant, acknowledged and important to my peers. In other words, I don’t feel good enough just because I don’t have enough views or likes on social media. I don’t have enough comments on social media to keep me motivated. All of these play a part on how I feel about myself. I wanted to be validated. The social media purge has made me realize that how connection with real friends are more important than the likes, comments and what so on social media. These peers are the real deal and I will not be drawn to the validation from social media.

• Stalker mode. LOL. This is so true. I’m sure many fall into a similar trap like me. You tend to stalk on your close friends, your loved ones online – to spy if they are online or their so-called “last seen”. If the other party doesn’t reply and have received and acknowledge your text with the blue ticks, you will start bombard your head with questions and this, my friend, can eat you, drain you and make you feel more anxious. Even though with delayed replies, you still feel anxious. So yes, I have stopped stalking or even if I did, it was only momentarily rather than committing repeated “offences”. I am grateful that the social media purge have slowly made me feel good about myself and slowly dismissing the usual habits of stalking. Sorry, blue ticks or gray ticks, I have beaten you at your own game 😀

• My mood. Oh yes, it has been 16 days after the purge and I have notice that my mood is better. It’s hard to determine just yet because it coincides with the beginning of the year. Relatively, I feel much better about myself and I’m not even trying to begin with. When I wake up in the morning but I won’t check the phone straight away. I even invested an actual clock so that will be my go-to-gadget when I check the time in the morning. Yes, generally I am a happier person and I hope this will also help me to become more productive and efficient. Let’s see if I can maintain this for the next month and hopefully the following months.

So that’s it in terms of my post mortem on my social media purge. Now I still have one challenge that I want to conquer and that is a no-phone challenge for at least 1 to 2 days. This will be even a bigger step for me to further test my will and courage that I can survive without the phone. I was just imagining myself back in the teen years where smartphones and even mobile phones haven’t existed yet. And, we all survived back in the 80s without phones, right? I am sure I can survive for one/two days without my phone. I shall be alert my friends and especially my clients when the time is near.

Thank you once again for your patience and I really hope you can learn a thing or two from my findings. Who knows you will challenge yourself with the social media purge and the impact will be different from mine because of our wants and needs. Give it a shot. I challenge you 😀

Jaymee realized how good iMessage is and it’s one of the ways I’ve been contacting my friends and clients. Well, this one works with those on IOS.

One of my favourite dishes of 2018. A gem I found and thanks to Ruby for introducing it. The Kimchi Stew from Brukori at Little Soho food court. One of the reasons why the food court is always busy, busy, busy!!

The final day. It’s like very anti-climatic that the end is near. The feelings is simply mixed. I don’t know how to explain. I am looking forward to revisit the world of social media but at the same time, I still want to continue my purge. Overall, it has been one of the most refreshing experiences as long as I can remember because I know how immersed I am when it comes to social media. It’s part of my DNA and to detach that addiction and separate it from my being. We’ll see how it goes after I’m back on social media.

I’m still slightly down because Liverpool finally lost in the Premier League after a great run of 20 games unbeaten, their best form since the formation of the English Premier League. Their loss came at the expense of a four point gap against 2nd placed Manchester City who beat them 2-1. It could have been a 10 point gap or 7 point gap or 4 point gap. Now the race is even closer than before and both Liverpool and Man City can’t afford to lose. It will be an interesting horse race between the two and will Liverpool slip up for the third time? We shall wait and see.

Before I signed off, I would like to thank everyone who has been supporting me in this “Social Media Purge” journey. Thank you for the SMSes, the emails and the face-to-face greets as they do build my immune system to distant myself from social media and slowing down that distraction.

I chilled at T-Lounge at Little Soho and I was more productive updating my blog. An under- rated cafe that I don’t mind spending time there again.

A beautiful sunset taken at Manggis Mall top floor.

Hello Eugene. Have a good married life and it was nice bumping into you by the sunset haha

It was the first time that I attended a wedding at Emperor’s Court and it was quite an intimate wedding.

Another excellent performance from The Sequence who sang at the wedding last weekend

Had supper at TK and I did like the chicken vege soup 😀

An alarming sign when students from high school are aware of this problem. An interesting survey conducted by a teacher.

Sending off Derby who will continue her final year in Vancouver after completing her first two years in Melbourne University. All the best, Derby xx

Having guys talk over Jollibee. Now will these boys be “tested” one day? (Inside joke)

Day 5. I’m actually getting used to this haha. I feel freer and lighter at least. Temptations to be curious gets lesser and we normally kill the curiousity through social media or gossips. True or not? I’m a sucker for new information as it has become part of my job to know what’s going on in our community. With the ongoing purge, I’m beginning to see the other side of the spectrum. Do I like it? Yes. Will I change my perspective? Maybe yes, maybe no. It’s still early days but it’s kinda a good to have this kind of awareness.

Have I been eating a lot and napping lately? Not as much as the first two days and I’m kinda blending in with my daily routines. I still have the habit to carry my phone in my hand though this time, I hardly check my phone because of the absence of notification. I still anticipate for SMS though. Ah, speaking of SMS, it’s so different from Whatsapp. People then to reply slower on SMS as compared to Whatsapp. I would say 70% of them are slow repliers LOL. I am yet to determine why they would take their sweet time to reply through SMS.

I’m now 7 days away from the end of my social media purge. I have friends who have been very encouraging on my journey and it’s kinda ironic that some of them can’t even live without IG and Whatsapp for a day. Well, there’s a way to go about this. What you can do is build your purge through having shorter hours to begin with. Say, start with 4 hours without playing with your phone (in your waking hours, of course) and build it from there. Perhaps, that could be another challenge I might just take within this one week – not to touch my phone for a day. Hmmmmmm… Scary but that’s a different ball game to deal with.

Enjoy the 5th Day updates of my Social Media Purge journey. Adios.

I told Reuben about the recent awful Robin Hood movie starring Taron Egerton and I told him that I preferred Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves when I watched it as a kid. Reuben was right that back then that Prince of Thieves is cheesy after I rewatched it on HBO yesterday. But yea, it’s still way better than Robin Hood (2018).

Did you know Guardian has 22 outlets in Brunei? The 22nd one opened at Annajat Complex. Image taken by Azrol Azmi of Borneo Bulletin.

Cooking is therapeutic indeed. I went grocery shopping and here’s the menu for yesterday’s lunch

…. And I ended up cooking Chicken Garlic Tomato Rice. I love it 😀

It was stated in the news that it’s gonna be rainy in the next few days. I was supposed to play tennis but it rained.

After a grueling 96 hours, a winner was crowned for Brunei Film Blitz. Wan Amiurl Azizan Hj Ibrahim, won for his short film, Yang Hilang Akan Berganti (What is lost will be replaced) and he won himself a two-year Diploma in Screen and Media scholarship sponsored by Progresif. Image by Wardi Wasil from The Scoop. Click image to read full details.

The Gala Night hosted by Brunei Film Blitz with the Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism. Image by Wardi Wasil from The Scoop.

Behind the scenes at a wedding recently. The waiters were prepping before dinner at Mulia Hotel.

Congratulations Valen and Cristal on your wedding celebration

A unique wedding as I witnessed a traditional gesture. The bride side has Murut ethnicity.

Always a pleasure to video Ruby on stage. My favourite number was Versace on the Floor. Awesome!! And good job to The Sequence for lifting up the warm audience.

I was nervous when Arsenal broke the duck early in the game but Liverpool came back stronger and gunned off Arsenal 5-1 with a rare Firmino hat-trick. Liverpool lead the table by 7 points.

Day 5 status so far. Not bad.

I woke up early in the morning of Day 3 and headed off to give my blood sample of my routine health check. Let’s hope everything is fine and hopefully my cholesterol is lower than before.

Normally people say “Time flies fast”. Well, not for my case. Day 3 began and it was not as challenging as the first two days I must say. It still felt longer though and I have nine more days to go before I break the purge. Now, I did mention earlier that I was looking for distractions, positive ones, like reading or writing for a start. Well, I haven’t gone down that line just yet. Maybe in Day 5 or Day 6.

The temptations to play with my phone is still there. The most active apps I used are Football Manager, Words with Friends and some Zynga games and not forgetting SMS. I’m glad that I didn’t have the urge to check my IG and Whatsapp for that matter. I know it felt that I am missing out a lot of what’s going on in Brunei or those hot topics on group chats. Yea, aren’t we all addicted to those too? I will be lying if I should I’m not.

Sometimes I wonder if it will make a difference if I were to carry out the purge on a non-holiday season. I find it slightly less challenging at this period because most of us are in the holiday mood and not much work can’t be done anyway.

I bumped into a friend last night and she gave me some morale support on my #socialmediapurge (Thanks, Ida). She sees the benefit as we are all too caught up with social media and forgetting what’s in front of us. It’s good to see that this movement is raising awareness on how social media has impacted our daily lives.

Let’s see what Day 4 brings. Thank you once again for the support and encouragement.

This is truly a sad case and I hope the culprits will be dealt for. I am totally against animal cruelty.

Congratulations to Qurratu’aini Qayyimah for her solo expedition in the Himalayas. This is tough bucket list for me.

I have been catching news online and this was one of the headlines on the CNN app. With Brunei’s economic growth slightly down this year and with the recent oil plunge, year 2019 doesn’t look promising. Furthermore, there have been cries of unemployment here and there. There’s still hope indeed. It will be interesting how the upcoming LegCo in 2019.

How Day 3 looks like now on my social media folder

I had a short swim and did some laps. It was great to be in the pool again, relaxing and listening to music.

One thing I realised is that I don’t have to bring my power banks around as much because my phone life is quite healthy since I don’t use my social media which can take a lot of battery juice.

Pranika trying out the mochi from Japan. She loves the cinnamon ones. Yumm!!! We had Japanese dinner before heading off for a movie.

We took away some milk tea from Liho. It’s getting popular after its soft opening and I love the drinks too. My fav to go is the Avocado ones because they use real avocados and not the powder version.

People say “finder’s keeper”. I saw a dollar note on the toilet floor. I picked up and just left it by the basin. If it was a 1,000 note, will it be a different story? Hmmmm

I caught the Indonesian horror movie last night. My overall take – horrible. Why? Many reasons – the lead actress was really bad on screen. All the whiny laughs and her two-dimensional acting. Just terrible. Secondly the plot was just meh. Some scenes were really silly and illogical. The only redeeming factor are the home workers who brought comic relief on screen. The scares were also subdued. Verdict: 4/10 Pranika 3/10.

To detox after watching the totally crappy horror movie, I went on online and caught Upgrade movie which was released back in August. Wow, wow, wow!! I was totally impressed and if you thought Venom was cool, this is way cooler and I love the plot (original). It was humorous too for a much violent movie. This could be one of my honourable mentions for Top 10 movies of 2018. Verdict: 8.5/10

The #SocialMediaPurge that I have accepted for the next 12 days as my next challenge. You can still reach me on SMS, email and you can surely be updated through my blog.

DAY 1. Now it hasn’t been 24 hours yet and I’m already feeling weird and restless when I’m awake. My sleeping pattern totally changed. I’m still awake and it’s 4:15am. Maybe because I had a super long nap in the late afternoon that lasted 4 hours maybe (not a good way to nap and not recommended).

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it took a long hard decision to accept this challenge – #socialmediapurge – something I thought won’t be possible because half of my social media content relates with work. It is still possible if you can compromise and work your way around and the most important is to be mentally prepared.

The Maggi Purge was already a tough challenge where I have been addicted to Maggi Curry for more than 30 years and I treated it as my staple food. To simply cut the addiction wasn’t an easy task but I’m super glad I made the journey this far. It has been more than a year and I’m proud of it.

Now I have upped the game by challenging myself to a social media detox for 12 days which started from 12:00pm on 25th December 2018. Hence, I will be documenting my daily journey without social media and see what changes (internal and external) that I will go through.

A big thanks also to my friends who are also joining the #socialmediapurge for 3 days in supporting my cause. You can also give it a try and see how you feel about yourself. I’m sure you can do it. You just have to be mentally prepared.

Have you wondered how much time you spend on your phone? Just look at my stats which was a summary of my usage last week. Instagram has been part of my social media life and the stats shows how addicted I am.

I have shifted all my social media apps in a specific folder. The unread messages have been average. I shall only view them after the purge is over on 6th January 2019.

I did some shopping yesterday for my family friends’ children for the festive season. I also ended up receiving gifts from my friends too. Thanks Reuben, Allen, Fen, Ruey and Pranika for the gesture and the gifts. Thanks also to Nana for the lunch invitation. Love the food 😀

Awwwww… Thanks Pranika for this wonderful gift. Fitting to my current challenge indeed 😉

I spent too much time napping. Maybe I was tired from the night before or maybe I wasn’t use to not being able to access my social media, knowing that I still have access to my phone and wifi. Then again, I felt good after a good nap but I hope next time, it won’t be a long one as one of my aims of this purge is to make sure that I increase my productivity.

I spent time lazing in bed and caught some series and movies on Netflix. By the way, I caught Bird Box, Netflix original film, and I give it a 7. It had potential to be one of my Top 10 movies or even my honourable mentions. But it didn’t live up to my expectations.

Ah yes, I lazed too much in bed that I missed my dinner time. I had soto around 10:30pm and I kept munching here and there. Maybe it helped me to ease my withdrawals of this current purge and it has only been less than 12 hours.

Yay!! A good news though is that my friend is on the way back to Brunei. At least something to look forward in distracting my withdrawals. See you soon 😀

One of my friends joined the #socialmediapurge and this was her SMS tonight. Keep it up, my friend, and thanks for the support. It means a lot 😀

This was the state of my room at 1:00am and I was thinking to do something productive. I decided to clean up my room and I already had a long nap earlier in the day. So, why not? I purposely darkened the image so it won’t be an eye sore to you all :p

Yars!!! 50% done and I hope to continue tomorrow again. Shot taken at 4:10am today. Alright folks!! Time to head to bed..