Taking a Social Media Break
Jun. 2nd, 2024 03:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pennswoods I have decided to take a social media break for about a month, so on Friday I posted away messages on my FB, IG, Twitter and Bluesky. Technically, I suppose DW and Whatsapp and Strava are also social media, but they function a little differently. I wanted to get away from the midnless scrolling I was doing on certain social media platforms and where I was not only losing a lot of time, but I think exposing myself to a level of negativity, toxic behavior, unkindness, unhinged ranting, conspiracy thinking and all sorts of things that I need to reduce.
I logged out of those four platforms and deleted the apps from both my cellphones. There is a risk that I may have a problem with one of my passwords - we'll see. But this was the only way I could stay off. If I am not logged on to these on any device, I cannot waste time there.
I am still logged into LinkedIn, Dreamwidth and Stava (strava is social media for running, cycling, hiking. These aps are a bit different than the other four because of how they function and how they use them. I have to force myself to remember I have a LinkedIn account, Dreamwidth is a place where I can post more privately and also have a much more focused community of friends, and Strava is where I post my runs and can see where my friends are running/swimming/cycling etc. It's more a way to cheer on other people. And again, it's a smaller community. I feel like my use of them was under control and they were not having a negative effect on my attention and world view the way the other four were.
It's been a little over 48 hours and here is what I have noticed:
1. I miss the attention. I love posting updates or reels and stuff on Instagram and seeing that my friends have watched. I also love seeing what my friends post.
2. I don't miss the endless scrolling I engaged in with IG. It's still a habit I want to follow when I go to the toilet or wake up in the morning.
3. I do not miss the rage farming and negativity of Twitter at all. I really have a problem with what I expose myself to on that app.
4. Bluesky is not as bad, but when there is an issue in the world that everyone needs to opine about, it makes it to both Twitter and Bluesky. I honestly am happy not to have to be exposed to the latest thing to be outraged about.
5. FB is the least noticeable. I don't spend as much time over there as I do the other places. That is the social media platform where I have contact with family so I am going to miss out on posts and I have a feeling I will miss messages sent the next month. But I don't feel this affects my life as much.
6. I posted a status update to Whatsapp for attention/validation. I might do this a bit more while off the other apps because I do miss being seen by my friends who live in many different states and countries.
7. I am perusing certain reddit threads. This may be a problem, but I don't have an account there and so at most I lurk. But this is the one compensatory strategy that I find mindless and not good.
8. It's summer vacation officially so my time is freer. I have deliberately started reading more Swedish. There is a novel called Straff that I am trying to read about 20-30 minutes at a time. But I picked up A Court of Thorns and Roses yesterday and am halfway through. I think I would prefer that I waste time reading light fictional books instead of waste time scrolling instagram reels.
9. I am doing A LOT of travel planning for summer and autumn travel. That requires a lot of attention and I kind of enjoy the challenge even though it is A LOT!
10. I have started watching the drama Die Kaisarin (The Empress) on Netflix in German with German closed captioning. I've also made note of Swedish shows on Netflix to binge watch and am going to try that next!
I logged out of those four platforms and deleted the apps from both my cellphones. There is a risk that I may have a problem with one of my passwords - we'll see. But this was the only way I could stay off. If I am not logged on to these on any device, I cannot waste time there.
I am still logged into LinkedIn, Dreamwidth and Stava (strava is social media for running, cycling, hiking. These aps are a bit different than the other four because of how they function and how they use them. I have to force myself to remember I have a LinkedIn account, Dreamwidth is a place where I can post more privately and also have a much more focused community of friends, and Strava is where I post my runs and can see where my friends are running/swimming/cycling etc. It's more a way to cheer on other people. And again, it's a smaller community. I feel like my use of them was under control and they were not having a negative effect on my attention and world view the way the other four were.
It's been a little over 48 hours and here is what I have noticed:
1. I miss the attention. I love posting updates or reels and stuff on Instagram and seeing that my friends have watched. I also love seeing what my friends post.
2. I don't miss the endless scrolling I engaged in with IG. It's still a habit I want to follow when I go to the toilet or wake up in the morning.
3. I do not miss the rage farming and negativity of Twitter at all. I really have a problem with what I expose myself to on that app.
4. Bluesky is not as bad, but when there is an issue in the world that everyone needs to opine about, it makes it to both Twitter and Bluesky. I honestly am happy not to have to be exposed to the latest thing to be outraged about.
5. FB is the least noticeable. I don't spend as much time over there as I do the other places. That is the social media platform where I have contact with family so I am going to miss out on posts and I have a feeling I will miss messages sent the next month. But I don't feel this affects my life as much.
6. I posted a status update to Whatsapp for attention/validation. I might do this a bit more while off the other apps because I do miss being seen by my friends who live in many different states and countries.
7. I am perusing certain reddit threads. This may be a problem, but I don't have an account there and so at most I lurk. But this is the one compensatory strategy that I find mindless and not good.
8. It's summer vacation officially so my time is freer. I have deliberately started reading more Swedish. There is a novel called Straff that I am trying to read about 20-30 minutes at a time. But I picked up A Court of Thorns and Roses yesterday and am halfway through. I think I would prefer that I waste time reading light fictional books instead of waste time scrolling instagram reels.
9. I am doing A LOT of travel planning for summer and autumn travel. That requires a lot of attention and I kind of enjoy the challenge even though it is A LOT!
10. I have started watching the drama Die Kaisarin (The Empress) on Netflix in German with German closed captioning. I've also made note of Swedish shows on Netflix to binge watch and am going to try that next!
no subject
Date: 2024-06-04 08:37 pm (UTC)I probably doomscroll too much on Tumblr. But nowhere near what I did previously.
It's odd, seeing WhatsApp listed as a social media; I don't consider it social media at all, just another form of communication. I used it on a daily basis when we were expats; I don't think most people here have it, unless they've also been overseas or have friends/family overseas. Are there really people who use it as social media? How?
no subject
Date: 2024-06-06 12:33 pm (UTC)I put WhatsApp in there because I have seen it defined as both a messaging app and a social media app. It has features like the status update that are similar to that on IG (which I use) and the creation of communities and groups is a little similar to what you can do with FB groups and communities (which I use a little with my mainly European research teams).
However its messaging function is mainly what I am using right now. I don't think I could bring myself to delete it because that would really be cutting myself off from friends and that's not what I wanted to do this month at all.
no subject
Date: 2024-06-06 02:28 pm (UTC)