I’ve been dismayed with social media for a long time. I have been using Reddit since 2008 or so, and I’ve been using Meta platforms since around the same time. I jumped on Twitter and used it a lot when I went to college in 2015, and have been jumping on and off every platform since then.
I’ve always felt like a social media break was a good thing. Doom-scrolling is no good. I don’t enjoy it. But I found myself doing it a lot lately. As “connected” as it may make us, it really drove me apart from my friends. It made us feel more connected than we were. Because of the Al-Gore-Rhythm, I’d only see certain updates from the people I really cared about, and content from people I didn’t. Meme accounts and ads and people that I haven’t actually seen in years and ads and memes and ads were most of my feed. The real connections I wanted to use the platform for were diluted with trash.
I deleted the Facebook app from my phone years ago – I believed the browser version, being more difficult to use, would introduce a barrier to entry that would make me use it less. That worked to an extent, but the core nature of the platform was still accessible. I started intermittently deactivating my Facebook account in 2023. I went without for about 6 months, then some event prompted me to get back on. I did this a few times, with both Facebook and Instagram.
I deleted the Instagram app just before 2025 and deactivated my account about a month ago. I downloaded my data and deactivated my Facebook in late 2024.
I did all this to better my personal mental and physical health. But I also wanted to hurt the companies, as much as I could. The Founder/CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, has not only quietly taken advantage of people’s vast lack of understanding of their data, but has also loudly supported the current president by way of a million-dollar donation to his inauguration fund. I can’t continue using the product of a company that openly supports a person who wants to take away the rights of and hurt trans folks and migrants and black and brown folks and….
I did say that I deactivated my Facebook and Instagram accounts. I calculated that it probably costs them more money for me to have a deactivated account than a deleted account – my logic here is that they might try to advertise to me and they will probably hold on to my data longer. I think this likely hurts them more. Not much, but more.
At the same time, I deleted my Twitter. Wholesale. I do not want to use the platform of a literal, actual, Heil-Hitlering Nazi. This is my fucking website and I can say that if I want to. Hopefully Digital Ocean doesn’t cancel my hosting.
All that, plus, the inherit bad-ness of the algorithm, the effects blue-light can have on your eyes, and the time I was spending looking at my phone, made me want to reconnect with the “real world”. To that end:
I’m Biking More
I added a section to the homepage of this website with my cycling stats. This is the most important set of goals in my life right now (at least, the most important goals I’m willing to share publicly). So I’m keeping myself accountable to this schedule, these goals, by keeping these things there.
I’m Reading More
I’ve read 4 books in the last 3 months or so. I’m working on two more right now and have a good list going. I’ll probably put that here at some point. My goal is a book a month, and to at least read a chapter a day.
I’m Spending Time with Family
My dad died on 1/22/25. My family is torn and heartbroken over that. In an attempt to live in his honor, we are spending much more time together. I hope it lasts. I hope we don’t drift apart, as we always seem to do. Time will tell, but for now, I’m relishing in spending time with them, especially my sister’s kids.
The Results?
I’m less head-achey. I’m taking on freelance clients. I’m focusing more on my health. I’m not feeling as “busy”. There could be a lot of reasons for all this, but I’m chalking a big part of it up to the fact that I’m not looking at my phone nearly as much.
But…
I’m still on Reddit and Bluesky. Bluesky is actually really chill – I haven’t seen any ads and I follow very few people (I intend to keep it that way). I’m in more group chats that I’ve ever been in and I’m actively participating in them and really enjoying the connections being made. Reddit is…fine. I really only browse a few minutes a week or when there’s breaking news.
All in all, I hope I can keep myself accountable to updating my website.