Around this time last year, I made one of the best decisions I've made in recent memory: I closed my facebook account.
I had first joined facebook in 2007, but recently was growing disenchanted with it. I removed several social media apps from my phone early in 2020, though I kept my accounts open and I continued to use them on desktop computers. After I pulled the plug on facebook entirely, I was amazed at how much a relief it was to me.
A few months ago, I randomly decided to go for a week without using any social media, in particular twitter and reddit. Not even on a desktop. The experiment went so well, I decided to keep it up indefinitely. I was more productive at work, and in my spare time I found myself doing more interesting things.
I don't really use twitter at all anymore, and I only use reddit when I have something specific to look for (like asking a question about office furniture, as I did recently). I still have Instagram on my phone, but it's not much of a temptation for me.
Over the past few years, I've come to the conclusion that we should use social media sparingly, and if possible, not at all. Here's why:
Social media doesn't actually bring us closer together
Many social media companies talk about their grand mission of enhancing communication or connecting people or whatever. But I don't think any of it lives up to this promise. While it is true that social media can put us into contact with people that we otherwise may not communicate with, I question whether this is a good thing. On social media, you tend to talk at people, not with people. It is likely to entrench us into whatever our preferred tribe is, and increase your communication with them - and also increase your contempt for those of opposing tribes.
Social media can connect us, but it may be only connecting us in the ways that don't matter, or ways that cause harm.
It's a tool for misinformation
Social media, facebook in particular, is the most powerful platform for spreading misinformation and propaganda in a generation. You may think you are smart enough to avoid misinformation and recognize propaganda when you see it, and perhaps most of the time you are. But nobody can recognize misinformation one hundred percent of the time, not you, nor me. I decided that the best way to reduce the risk of being fooled by misinformation is to reduce my potential exposure to it.
It creates mental clutter
Social media had a larger footprint than just the time I was using it. It affected me before and after I would use it, too. Basically, my mind while using social media was like a cluttered room: if your room is full of clutter it's going to be a distraction all the time, even when you're not using the stuff that is causing the clutter. On the other hand, when you're in a tidy room, or have a clean desk, it's a lot easier to focus on more worthwhile things.
After I stopped using social media, I found I had more mental bandwidth to do interesting things, like work on my bike project or reignite my old interest in mod music.
Is it worth the cost?
I'm not saying social media has no value at all. It can be very useful for people to stay in touch with friends, find support groups, connect with their communities, or get answers to questions. What I am saying, however, is that the benefits we get from social media may not be worth the cost. If the cost of using social media is to cause us stress, or to increase our animosity toward others, or to start believing lies just because believing them feels right to us, maybe we should reconsider whether we use it or not.
Our minds crave what social media offers. But just because you crave something doesn't mean you should indulge in it. You might crave sugar, too - but if you spend all day eating sugary snacks, don't feel too surprised if you feel awful when you go to bed.
I encourage you to try it out for yourself. Try removing social media apps from your phone. Go for a week or two without using facebook or twitter or TikTok at all. See what happens when you stop using it. And if you see positive results, consider going without it at all.
In the meantime, I'm going to try to have more deliberate ways of communicating with people. This blog is part of it, because it requires me to put some thought into what I write rather than just posting my ad-hoc thoughts like social media encourages. Maybe I'll start sending emails to people just to see how they're doing.
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