The Unscreen (and my mini life epiphany)

With all of the final papers, presentations, and exams that I have coming up in these next few weeks,  staring at a blank screen for twenty minutes seemed like such a waste of time. But, like with every odd thing I've ever been asked to do for a college course, I figured that there was some greater point to it. I chose to stare at my laptop screen because I knew that if I tried this with my phone, I wouldn't be able to keep it a blank screen. And the TV in my house is in the living room, the hub of my family's activity, so I would be way too prone to distraction there. So I shut myself in my bedroom, sat at my desk, set a timer, and stared at my blank laptop screen.

Within the first three minutes, I was itching to turn it on and work on one of the four papers that I have due by next week. I was like "Why do I have to do this?" And then two minutes later my overdramatic subconscious was in full meltdown mode like "whywhywhyWHYWHYWHY." I was trying really hard to stay focused on the blank screen, but it's hard to focus on nothing.

And that's when I got it.

Most of the time when I'm staring at a screen in my day-to-day life, whether I'm watching FRIENDS reruns or scrolling aimlessly through Instagram... I'm focused on nothing. None of it is actually necessary or important. I was sitting here going "Why am I staring at this screen when I have so many other things that I should be doing?" And that's kind of hypocritical, since without this assignment, I would probably have been staring at the screen anyway. It just would have had something mindlessly entertaining on it.

This assignment really made me think about how we all spend our time. While we might get a few laughs or a sometimes much needed distraction from our screens-- TVs, computers, phones-- much of what we're doing on them means nothing at all. It's as useful as staring at a blank screen.

Not get all deep and philosophical here (but I'm gonna): as humans we don't get a lot of time. We are all limited edition, limited time only. The only time we have is the time that we're lucky enough to be given-- by God, by the universe, by whatever you believe has the power to give you anything in this life. It seems such a shame to waste it on something that won't make any difference in the end.

Coming away from this (even though I only lasted 18 minutes), I'll be thinking about how to budget my time better. I won't be giving up Instagram (or my Bachelor Monday tradition), because everyone needs a mindless distraction from time to time. But we have so many available to us, so I think it's important to choose your distractions wisely and moderately. Because at the end of your life, it really, really won't matter how many times you Netflix-binged yourself into a coma, or how many likes you accumulated on your selfies, or how many levels you beat in your favorite video game. There are a lot of things that will matter.

Most of them don't involve a screen.

Stop Criticizing Taylor Swift's Squad

Go to any newsstand in any city and pick up any fashion magazine. You’re almost guaranteed to come across a picture of Taylor Swift and her now almost infamous ‘squad.’ Last summer, it might have been an article about how Taylor Swift and her group of friends are empowering women. But these days, Taylor Swift’s squad is under fire. It seems to be rubbing people the wrong way… a group of tall, thin, and beautiful women uniting in a group that seems so exclusive and unattainable that it actually turns people off. What was once seen as a powerful challenge to a patriarchal industry is now being viewed in a highly negative light and being deemed detrimental to the ideology of feminism. 

So why is that?

At this point, everyone and their mother knows that I’m a huge Taylor Swift fan. While my natural instinct is to defend her, I pride myself in never having blindly followed what she does. I’m an educated twenty year old who is perfectly capable of forming my own opinions. (That said, I won’t be buying Kanye’s new album.) So I know that Taylor Swift, a 26 year old woman, is not faultless. In the ten year span of her career, from ages 16 to 26 she has surely made mistakes. She has surely misspoken or misstepped or crossed a line. Maybe all of the above. She is not faultless. But attacking Taylor Swift because her feminism isn’t enough? To me, that seems to be crossing a line all on its own.

Feminism is a complex set of beliefs, but at its most simplistic, it is the belief that women should be given the same rights and privileges that men have. But beyond that, it extends to the idea that in a culture where the entire world is tearing women down, women should be working to empower each other and build each other up instead of joining in the takedown. 

That’s what Taylor Swift’s “squad” is. A group of talented, powerful, hardworking women who support and uplift each other. This article details the hypocrisy of feminists who criticize Taylor Swift and her squad for "not being feminist enough." The author puts it best, "Tearing down a woman once she's reached a pinnacle of success (or ever, really), for striving too hard and wanting too much — that flies in the face of feminist values. To celebrate feminism is to allow women to make different choices. It's about allowing for more — and allowing for the idea that women can face different and multi-layered oppression. But it doesn't suggest that one experience trumps another. Or that someone with a more rudimentary understanding of the concept can't participate in the conversation.” That last point, about understanding, seems to be the root of many people’s problems with Taylor Swift’s brand of feminism. They claim that she doesn’t fully understand it, and therefore she shouldn’t participate in the conversation.

And that’s bullshit. Because if she wasn’t participating in the conversation at all, she would be criticized for that, too. And since when does not having full knowledge of a subject invalidate your views on it? No one fully understands politics (you’re lying to yourself if you think you do), but everyone wants to join in that conversation.

Leave Taylor Swift alone. She's not perfect. Expecting her to be perfect and criticizing her when she doesn't meet your expectations makes you a participant in the takedown culture. Appreciate the fact that the women in your lives—your daughters and your sisters and your wives and your friends—have someone in the spotlight who takes every opportunity to tell them that they are strong and important and valuable and capable. You should be doing that. We should all be doing that.