5 ways I switch off that bring me joy

Being a social media editor is like being on an electronic leash. I suspect, I tap refresh on my timelines more often than I possibly inhale. No exaggeration this.

Managing social media requires mindfulness till you reach a level of mindlessness.

But survivors must bend each challenge to their advantage. So there are a few suitably-customised hacks that I exploit for the much-needed me moments.

Here are the ones that have potential vitality for the benefit of others who suffer social media as a calling or fetish:

1) Digital detox: I choose my moments of stowing all electronic contraptions away as if they do not exist. I pull out a book, put on my music or hit the kitchen, re-organise my wardrobe or simply stare at the stars. But I do what I like and I do it consciously.

(Statutory warning: Even if you can let go off the control freak in you, I must confess, such moments are dearer if you do not have a team that is completely in control.)

2) Get personal: My professional social media accounts are consciously forked from my personal accounts. So, when I get sick of reading how media is handling a particular issue with kid gloves, I scan my personal accounts for a semblance of realism.

Sticking your neck out there in a conversation is akin to putting your fingers into an electric socket.

It is liberating to read opinion that is neither cautious, nor apologetic and nobody cares a hoot about being proper. I may agree or disagree, but I always feel entertained.

It is real people saying and sharing real things. No pretences. Just empowerment!

3) Digital drawing-room conversations: On a day, sorting through dissatisfaction at hand, thanks to routine, I tend to wonder into the multiple WhatsApp groups - ones from school, college, university, family, moms from kids' school. One look at what I call the digital drawing-room conversation, and I feel pinched into reality.

Parents flaunting the achievements of their kids, friends having inebriated reunions and talking about old crushes but only in hints for they fear their wives (don’t see women playing this game), the "share this now or misfortune is yours" kind of fear factor posts, the "check my new attire" photo-blogs, the good morning images and the goodnight photos and much more.

The experience is so therapeutic that I am inspired to log into my official accounts and get back to work. Dissatisfaction what!

4) Playing Sherlock Holmes: As a child I was most lousy a sportsperson. My games were limited to indoors and most of the times, as indoor as just being inside my own mind.

I haven’t been able to shake that off. Even today, I get immense pleasure in sniffing social media for leads on what's happening or about to happen or catching plain simple gossip.

On a good day, one can read tweets and posts and smell something brewing.

Connecting those dots in your mind and building conspiracy theories around them is a secret game that I love to play all by myself - the beauty being that this game does not need another player and nobody else needs to know how foolish or intelligent they are. They are your theories and they transform you to 221B Baker Street.

5) Filter happiness: In addition to loving a cup of filter coffee in my empty moments, I have learnt the art of engaging with my two kids in what I call "Snapchat filter moments".

We sit together and create crazy and funny videos, do face swaps, use animal filters. And we sit for hours laughing at what we create together.

Deadly wit and humour, unmatched joy. (The fun apart, the only way for me to get a peek into the millennial world.)