My plan to delete certain social media sites is still ongoing but two out of the three have now gone and I must say, while I thought it would be difficult, it has been surprisingly easy to achieve. Also surprising is that I am reading more, and in more depth. I was finding that I, increasingly, read only headlines and first couple of paragraphs of articles/news reports etc with the pressure to continually scroll to find more content. That pressure has been lifted and I can take my time over important issues that interest and inspire me.
I am still finding my way on Bluesky, which has grown quickly in the last few weeks. I do seem to be attracting follows from people, well men, who only post photos of themselves and, often, claim to be in the military or the occasional over-exposed women. However, there are growing numbers of interesting and educational news sources, businesses, people and organisations to follow and engage with.
I am also experiencing the freedom to enjoy a wider range of interests and hobbies now that I have escaped the doom-scrolling that is such a feature of social media. I found I was constantly wasting time flipping from one site to the next to try to find … well Im not sure what now. Life so far without these sites seems much more reasoned and calm. I wouldn’t have thought of myself as an addict but I guess to some degree I was.
I am reigniting my interest in sites such as Longreads (https://longreads.com/), Guernica (https://www.guernicamag.com/) and Open Culture (https://www.openculture.com/) to name a few. Any content creator that I particularly want to follow who has a Youtube channel I am also subscribing to or to specific websites. It is a great way to maintain contact. I do regret the potential loss of contact with the friends I have made over the years on social media sites but I hope we can stay in touch through other means.
All in all I recommend taking the leap out of the social media trap. You never know what is on the other side!
Significantly Different 