Social Media, Activism, Politics, Mental Health and Wellbeing, Reading and Writing

The last few weeks have been tough in many ways. I expected them to be more grounding in some respects - time removed from day-to-day working to engage in activism work. That part, overall, has been extremely rewarding. Over the last few weeks I have been picketing and Striking on behalf of UCU (University and College Union) UK for five fights: pay, casualisation of workers, equality and diversity, workloads and pension cuts. What has been wonderful about all that activity is the camaraderie I have directly experienced with other staff at the University of Edinburgh. We've had the time and space to talk about our jobs, our lives, our values, our needs and our wants. Some of that has been framed by university expectations. But, most of that has been negotiated by us - re-assessing ourselves in this highly charged moment in time and having the space to think about alternative futures.

In the last few weeks I've also spent more time on social media than I have in a long time. Striking UCU members have been very active on social media, getting a particular (and more accurate) narrative out into the media about the calamitous and quite frankly, ruinous situation in which academics are increasing finding themselves. There have been some great posts that I've shared on Twitter about the realities of the work we do, and about how much of that is unrecognised. But, also expected. Academia is not immune from a prevalent instant gratification culture where we feel pressure to do everything now rather than stick to realistic goals that allow us to have a decent work-life balance in order to be mentally strong. We are constantly spinning a multitude of plates in the air and trying to carve spaces to work on important pieces while balancing a formal workload that is crushing in itself. The onus is left on us to put down boundaries that always leave people dissatisfied. In that process we also have to constantly remind ourselves that we are not failing but coping as best as we can. It can be demoralising.

Then there is the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I have also been following this on Twitter and LBC (Leading Britain's Conversation) and doing pieces of work in the background to help where I can. At the beginning of this week it all became too much. I found myself scrolling through Twitter with a buzzing going on in my head and feeling very lightheaded. Once I came off Twitter, I found it very difficult to concentrate on anything for even short periods of time - I was constantly checking my phone to see if there had been any updates. Not only that, but Twitter's algorithm had chosen both UCU and Russia / Ukraine posts as issues that I 'wanted' to focus on, so my home page was over-saturated with new takes, news and opinions. So the cycle would begin once again and I would be locked in the virtual world for even more time, coming out feeling even more lightheaded and struggling to concentrate.

It's really a no-brainer that my conclusions from this 'experiment' is that social media isn't very good for my mental health. Of course, social media is the vehicle and is not (fully) responsible for this tumultuous time in which we find ourselves. But, I do appreciate more now why there are informal guidelines about using social media in ways that are not detrimental to mental health. So, I've been taking a bit of a step back the last few days - from both social media and the picket line - to try and ground myself when I actually have the opportunity to do that because of strike action. It is equally the time to consolidate as it is to act. The former includes giving yourself enough space to think through the realisations that have been coming at you, not solely stoking them and reifying them until they become mental prisons.

What I have found more useful is taking the time to listen to podcasts, watch debates and read key texts that are all directly related to the moment in which we find ourselves. Where the underlying issues and structural mechanisms are exposed and there is a narrative of change. Where we can connect these particular issues to more broader issues that have been permeating for some time and there is debate how we can get out of this. I've found the work of Yanis Varoufakis and Rebecca Solnit quite illuminating. Whilst I have read some of their work before, it was just the space to listen to debates they've been having recently which gave me some hope, albeit a bit morose hope. The issues that we are all facing today are not new. But, in between the punishing analysis in these debates, both also speak of how they cope with having all these thoughts and realisations, and how they keep going. Self care, unsurprisingly. Putting down boundaries when they need to. Rebecca Solnit was especially good on this, talking about how there are many emails that she doesn't even respond to. She can't. Though many people want her time and expertise, she can't give it out to everyone. She has to be selective, to give herself the scope to keep writing which seems to be as important to her as breathing. I'm sure parts of Rebecca Solnit would cease to exist if she couldn't find the time write regularly.

I've also given myself some 'me' time and been listening more podcast discussions, this time about creativity and writing. I've also followed up some of these podcast discussions with reading some books on the importance of writing for mental health, and about how to write. I have been concluding for a while that most academics do in fact enjoy writing, but it is the gun to your head to do it in very particular ways that has taken the joy out of it for some of us. It has become one other thing, on top of everything else, to 'achieve' and through which we are judged. Everything that I have been listening to and reading has underscored the necessity to not write for these reasons. Writing is an expression of you and sometimes it reflects back to you thoughts or ideas you didn't know you had. Start from there, and if it becomes something more than that, then that is just a bonus. Easier said than done with current pressures, but crucial to stress. In both meanings of the word.