Scroll free September: Interview with Joanne Mulvihill-Allen, Academic Development Officer.

Scroll-free September is at an end, and it hasn’t been easy for some of us. Of those of us who struggled, I spoke to Joanne from our Academic Development team – also a tutor at OCA.
Joanne was low risk on the social media index quiz, as she doesn’t post to social media other than holiday photos, or contacting friends and family abroad. With this in mind she was surprised how hard it was.
Which plan did you decide upon and why?
I decided to be a night owl, because a lot of the time I’m on my phone when the football’s on and it’s just something else to do while my partner is watching that. I thought if I put that away then I could do something else more productive. I thought I’d be good at it!
How did you feel in the first few days after starting?
So anxious – it was terrible. I completely failed. I was sabotaging myself by putting my phone away and thinking great I’m not on social media, and next thing I knew I was on a tablet scrolling. And then at the weekend if I’d been out and came in at midnight after having a few drinks…it was hard!
Were there any positives to the experience?
I gradually committed a bit more and was proud of myself for putting it away and not going on it. We’re spending more time together actually communicating – I tried to put it away completely, kind of out of sight out of mind.
Did you miss anything?
I think it was just habit – as I say I don’t post stuff so it is just scrolling and all that’s on my Facebook is cats and puppies so it’s not exciting content, it’s just the finger action so maybe I need to take up knitting or something!
What do you think you are taking forward from the experience?
I think I’ll try and use it less, and get on top of my addiction! Maybe find something else to replace it!
We will catch up with all of the OCA staff at the end of October for an update on whether they’ve continued any of their changes to social media usage since Scroll-free September.
If you joined us please share how you found the experience!