I quit.

in , ,

After 15 years I decided to quit social media. Now what?

I never gave much thought to the “what do I do after I quit?”. As a father, I found that I was missing moments with my children. I started to notice that I was irritable, I was anxious and angered easily. My phone had become like the ring in Lord Of The Rings. If I didn’t have my phone I was grabbing my pocket or constantly hunting it down. My phone was keeping me up at night.

So I was done with it, not my phone but I was done with social media. I have taken breaks in the past by just removing the apps from my phone. Though the fact of still having the accounts kept me thinking of what I was missing who is interacting with me. Every time I put the apps back on my phone I didn’t miss much, a few likes here a couple of comments there. Social media was not what it used to be when I joined 15 years ago. Over 15 years social media has become a different beast.

My go-to app was Instagram, Instagram offered so much for me in 2012 as a photographer for sharing images. Instagram used to be a great way to see photographers’ work to interact with other photographers around the world and see day-to-day life around the world. Fast forward to today and Instagram is a marketing platform for content creators, advertising for major corporate brands trying to have the grassroots, mom and pop look.

So with the lack of interaction on social media and what it was doing to me mentally and with my recent news of poor physical health, I decided to quit.

So far (one week in) I feel great, less stressed. I feel less attached to my phone, I want to spend more time with my kids. I still want to communicate so maybe this is where I post my thoughts.

This is what I left behind

  • Facebook

  • Instagram

  • Twitter

What I still have and thinking about not using anymore.

  • Youtube

  • Linkedin

  • Glass (paid photo-sharing app, no ads. Not sure how I feel about it but it’s actually pushing photo sharing and socialness between photographers, no business stuff.)

  • Gmail

  • works apps like Teams and outlook

Share your thoughts.