As time continues to go by, and I learn more about what social media does to us, I get closer and closer to leaving all social platforms behind. I’m not there yet, as you might have seen wherever you came across this post, but I’m getting there.
I won’t get into the details of “why” here, as they’re different for every person, but the idea that “social media detox” has over 300,000 results on Google tells me that I’m not alone.
I’ve already started making some moves toward this, by making Readwise my default “I’m bored” app instead of social media, which has been fantastic. I’m going a step further now by focusing on unfollowing people as much as I possibly can.
My problem with giving up social media entirely is that I still enjoy keeping up with my friends and knowing what’s going on in their lives. That used to be the full extent of social media, and it was wonderful, but we’ve clearly fallen quite a distance from that.
My solution? To try to shape my feed to be more like that. I likely won’t disconnect completely from many folks, but I’ll “unfollow” a bunch. Going into an election year will create more of a mess on social media, and I’m hoping to be able to hide much of that. It’s tricky, though, because I still want to understand what friends on both sides of the political aisle are thinking.
I’m going to push hard over the next few weeks to unfollow unkind voices on social, and then continue to refine my approach from there. The balance between “hiding ugly stuff” and “understanding both sides” will be a real challenge, but I’ll give it a shot. If you’ve found a way to successfully pull that off, please leave a comment below and let me know!
First – read Digital Minimalism. Great info on how social media (and all digital tools) impacts you and your time. It also provides a great framework for how to use social media and digital tools in a way that enhances the things you value; not detract from them.
Second – remove all the social media apps from your phone. I did this and realized that I was only using them as time killers, not to actually keep track of friends. This also has forced me to try and be better at texting or calling the friends that I want to keep up with.
Good call on Digital Minimalism. Great book!
As for the social media apps, I agree completely but haven’t done it yet. I’m pretty good about avoiding them on the phone, and simply removing them is likely a great idea.