queer advice #3: the internet is one of the main ways I connect with queer community
It’s the first day of spring, homos. You’re reading Xena Worrier Princess, a queer advice column for Jenny apologists and lesbians who back into parking stalls. Yesterday my girlfriend and I took road trip to Laura Ingalls Wilder House in Pepin, WI and the giant boot at the Red Wing Shoe Store and Museum in Red Wing, MN. We got lunch at a bar and ate cheese curds. Needless to say, I have not been online! I feel righteous, clear-headed, and ready to talk about Instagram-induced anxiety.
Keep reading for a preview Subscribe for the entire thing, as well as my entire backlog of queer advice columns. Click here to send me a question of your own :)
xoxo, Maddy
I have noticed that using social media makes me very anxious and depressed. I’m trying to get offline, but the Internet is one of the main ways I connect with queer community and especially queer culture. I’m lucky to live a city, so I’m trying to push myself to do more in-person gay things, but when I’m down I can’t help teaching for my phone and opening Instagram. It feels like smoking: a cigarette calms your anxiety in the moment but ultimately makes you feel worse. Any tips for getting offline when you’ve lived your entire gay life on a smartphone?
Off the Grid, 26
What exactly about social media gives you anxiety? Comparing yourself to others? Doomscrolling through endless images of war and violence? The pressure to constantly record and narrate your life? The incredible ease with which you can stalk exes and enemies? The emptiness of knowing you’re not actually “connecting“ despite spending tons of time on your phone?