To scroll, or not to scroll, that is the question.
The dubbing of social media addiction as ‘chronically online’ *insert silly winking tongue-out emoji here* is one of the internet’s latest dismissive glorifications that justifies our unnatural dependence on the digital world. While the term can be traced back as early as 2016, it hasn’t always materialised as the quirky not-so-self-deprecating trait it does today.
From doom-scrolling and errant oversharing to nit-picking trigger warnings and an obsession with Brat, living chronically online involves immersing oneself in the abundance of hyper-digital social practices that ultimately drive a person out of touch with the real world. But if the term’s popularity indicates our generation’s understanding of our detrimental online habits, then how is it that we’re still so attached?
A Blissfully Ignorant Lifestyle
“Chronically offline”, as my friends have described me when I don’t know what meme they’re referencing, is the blissfully ignorant quality of paying no attention to the internet’s latest algorithmic content. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no iPhoneless saint with a blank Instagram profile, but I did somehow, someday, start consuming significantly less digital content than those in my social sphere.
Since then, the sickly uneasiness that I’d become so accustomed to in my chest has left me entirely. I’ve fallen asleep cosier, woken up fresher, and lived each hour more productively to my mental, physical, and educational needs. Despite what I feared when I deleted TikTok, scrolling through social media feeds is rarely something I have to actively stop myself from wanting.
Two Memes Behind
Avoiding internet evils has undeniably provided me more time to appreciate my ‘real’ environment, still, I’ve more recently questioned whether I’m in denial of 2025’s reality. When every individual of your environment surrounds themselves in mainstream digital media, is it not more socially “out of touch” to live in denial of the digital revolution?
The reality is, life chronically offline is alienating. I cannot emphasise how often I’ve had to follow a conversation’s unfamiliar quote, impression, or noise with, “Is that a reference?”. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a reclusive boor. I’ll laugh at almost anything out of the ordinary. And it only takes so long before some poor old friend takes pity and catches me up on the latest digital mania. Still, the neverending stream of scandals, aesthetics and unintentional gags ultimately leaves me feeling like an outsider, two memes behind the student pub chat.
Please Write Me Letters
Besides my distinctive lack of algorithmic ‘lore’, I’m a strong advocate for responding to all non-urgent communications two to three business days after their arrival. As I so desperately try to justify to my friends, I don’t feel the need for hourly responses when a few short decades ago a letter once a week and a phone call if you’re lucky were the primary means of keeping in touch.
Unfortunately, as my dearly patient friends know all too well, those two to three business days tend to stir my “you’ll be lucky to get a response within a week” reputation. My disinterest in digital conversations is not something I’m proud of. So, rather ironically, who here’s really the one with the bad habit? To my outer circle and any other poor soul trying to reach me: It’s not that I don’t like talking to you, my social battery just cannot account for your Bitmoji nosing over my keyboard.
Another article you may enjoy: Underconsumption Core: Use Less, Live More
The answer to social success then is… studying TikTok algorithms? It can’t possibly have come to this. Thankfully for my first-year self, it hasn’t. I’m (fairly) certain, my housemates love me all the same, for whatever strange noises, sex jokes, and cultural unawareness I bring to the table.
In an era where scrolling through the same feed as your friends can feel essential to your bedtime routine, you must devote space to discovering your humour independent of online media. Offline or on, living digitally is a balance and isn’t one to take “chronically”.