No X, No YouTube, No Online Shopping
The trifecta
It’s April 08, 2025 and as of right now, for the first time in a long time, I’ve gone roughly over a month without using X, without watching YouTube and without buying anything for myself on the internet (specifically Amazon but we’ll get into it).
I gave these up as part of my first “real” Lent, that is, the first Lent I’ve partaken where I consider myself an actual, practicing, Christian (though I still a lot of work to do…)
Why Did I Give Up X and YouTube?
To anyone on X, and to anyone who always needs a YouTube video playing, the answer is likely obvious: wasted time. I can’t tell you how much time I spent on both X and YouTube and gained nothing. Years. I’m willing to bet if you clock it all up, it’s years.
All that time spent staring into the abyss of a smartphone or a laptop with nothing to show for it but emptiness and despair. I’m the type of person who watches and watches and watches, and though I’d say I do take some action, if I’m being realistic with myself, I’m mostly watching, or doomscrolling, for entertainment.
I firmly believe that if you watch something, or read something, and you gain nothing from it, it changes your life in no way, you do nothing as a result of whatever it is that you saw or read, you have, in effect, wasted your time. Take it from the guy who has done it the most.
Worse yet. If you are just playing videos in the background, and the type of stuff I play is a combination of something spiritual or something political or something completely and utterly mindless, you are basically just blasting yourself with “thoughts.” These thoughts are programming you one way or another. This includes videos, podcasts, music — anything. Now, obviously not all of this is going to stick but some of it will. What are you letting seep into your brain?
The caveat here is that I have no idea what’s really going on in the world. I randomly see some things but it’s not like I’m watching CNN or anything. I have no access to news because X was where I got my news. So I’ve been in the dark, lol. Latest I saw was that Trump was doing counter tariffs and bitcoin was way down.
Why Did I Give Up Amazon Shopping?
The first and most obvious reason is wasted money. I can’t tell you how much I’ve wasted on Amazon purchases — wait, actually I can and did (read about it here). If you are like me, you are spending a couple hundred on Amazon per month which, over time, adds up, and if you are into investments, steals from your future.
However the money didn’t concern me as much as the strange impulsive buying. Whenever I saw something I even slightly wanted, I bought it, usually on Amazon, but sometimes on whatever site had the product. These decisions were made without ever a second thought. Even when I started working on my budget and savings, and resolved to quit, I still found myself buying stuff online. You’d be surprised how much adds up to more than a car payment.
I never realized how bad the problem was until I quit for Lent. Immediately, after resolving to quit, I wanted to buy things, and even now, I feel like I am mourning the loss of Amazon. I didn’t feel that way about X or YouTube. Not at all. I did feel that way when I got rid of alcohol. It took a long time for me to “forget” about how much I liked drinking.
What Have I Gained?
Believe it or not, time and money! But most importantly, this Lent, I have gotten much closer to Christ. I have learned more about Christ then any other period in my life. I’d like to write more on that later so I’ll leave it brief for now.
But in general, with the sudden increase in free time, I have been able to pray more, read more Spiritual works, I’ve gone to confession this Lent, Church, I’ve done a few jobs around the house. And yet, there is still so much more to do.