How I Quit Social Media and Took My Life Back
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My Story
I've always had a complicated relationship with social media. Facebook got big when I was in middle school, and I wanted nothing more than to have an account. I got into some serious heat with my parents when I went behind their back to create an account. Now I'm 26, and I have completely deleted all accounts on major social media platforms. Been sober for over a year now.
I'm not entirely against social media full stop, but I think the main players really kill what social media was all about back in the day.
Social Media actually used to be pretty fun, I dumped a lot of time into CarTown on Facebook with my dad. I later switched from FB to Instagram as it was a fun way to connect with my friends at school. Twitter was always a cesspool, so I avoided that.
I think social media platforms began to deteriorate when money started to really get pumped into the system. Now suddenly everyone was trying to be an "influencer", the mere word makes me gag a bit. I used to bock at people who would post their food or whatever, I still think it's kinda annoying (especially if you are with said person who takes pictures of their food) but it was at least human. I felt like every time I opened up the app someone was trying to sell me something.
I kept using social media despite this as it was how I connected with my friends. However, things took a turn when Musical.ly was born. Musical.ly eventually got deep-six'd and TikTok took its place. It was at this point EVERY tom-dick-and-harry social media platform was all of a sudden trying to get into short form content. This was were my disillusionment began.
I began to become more keenly aware of how predatory tech companies are when it comes to data collection, I was always aware of it to an extent, but I was generally apathetic. Then something in me clicked, the snowball began when I installed Linux for the first time back in 2020. I began to take privacy a lot more seriously. I didn't really post much on social media, mostly just scrolled and shared stuff with friends and family.
I began to really see how the various algorithm toyed with my psychology. I kept feeling angry every time I was on the platform, becoming infuriated more and more with people and getting into pointless arguments. My brain seemed to always want to open TikTok, almost like it was a tick. I was getting burnt out on the whole thing, I was tired of being mad, I was tired of being shoveled facefulls of mass consumerism. The endless doomscrolling that my ADHD brain just had the HARDEST time breaking away from. Which shouldn't be surprising considering that a lot of these tech companies hire neuroscientists to make their platform as addicting as possible.
It all came to a head in 2024, I finally had enough of it. I was tired of being mad. So, I began to delete my social media profiles.
The Deletion Process
The idea wasn't to delete ALL social media necessarily, as some do still have a purpose. I use reddit for news, and discord for engaging with friends online. The idea was to deleted the MAJOR platforms that keep us addicted to our phones.
I started with Snapchat, as everyone I cared to talk to on that platform I already had their phone number. Done.
Next was Tiktok, I basically did the TikTok and Snapchat deletion within the same hour. TikTok was really my biggest pain point, so I wanted to get rid of that ASAP.
Afterwards, I looked at Facebook/Instagram. I took a look at who I wanted to keep contact with, got their contact info, and talked with my wife about me deleting the profile. We agreed that since she had the social media account and most of our family followed her for updates anyway, I could just drop the account and nobody would really know any different. So, I went through and deleted my account on both platforms.
I then deleted LinkedIn, thing was borderline useless anyway. Basically what I would call the 7th layer of corporate hell.
Then came the social media I actually did use quite a bit, Reddit. I liked engaging with various communities and it was helpful with tech troubleshooting. However, I was tired of the petty arguments, constantly getting sucked into dipshit subreddits I didn't even care to be a part of and I fully switched to Discord for community engagement (mostly just my classic Halo group I play with regularly).
Deleting reddit was my final beast to slay. I actually did try to re-engage and created an account, but quickly found myself getting sucked back into old habits, so I deleted it once again.
How to Quit Social Media Yourself
Start small, start with deleting inconsequential apps. Delete ones you don't use.
Consider who you still want to stay in contact with, use this opportunity to re-engage with stale relationships. Get their contact info. I actually re-ignited my friendship with my best friend from high school, he and I basically picked up like no time was lost.
Start slowly deleting other social media accounts. If you use social media for your job, consider compartmentalizing your apps to another device as a designated "work" phone. Don't keep it on you 24/7. Only use it when you need to and try and be mindful of your usage. The goal is to prevent doomscrolling.
After you've deleted your other accounts, find alternatives to connect. Not all social media is created equal. Look at small indie-web forums, find discord communities. Try and keep this relegated to a device that isn't attached to you at all times like your computer. This will prevent you from using it as a crutch for boredom. We used to have computer rooms back in the day. Having a dedicated environment for technology can help with forming a healthy relationship with technology.
You can be as strict or as lenient as you feel comfortable with, this is your journey after all. It's like quitting any other addiction, this addiction just happens to be in your pocket most of the day.
For me personally, I still keep youtube and discord. I like watching some old favorites and some new favorites. I don't let the algorithm dictate what I watch, I am able to watch youtube with intention. Same thing with my discord usage, I hop on to engage with friends, and that is it. I use reddit sparingly, I don't have an account on it anymore, but I use it to get an understanding of current events. I may find a replacement for this someday, but for now this is sufficient enough for me.
Even if you don't quit social media per se, I hope you at least are able to better understand yourself and allow yourself to be bored. Boredom is what drives creativity, so let it drive you.