on ditching social media
hello 2026 ... i return to you with another 'phone bad' post
(crowd groans)
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in my late teens and early 20's i found myself hopelessly addicted to social media as all of my favorite platforms slowly got tik-tokified. sound familiar?
i'm 27 now and i pride myself on being a creative and free thinking person. when i get sucked into my feed - the algorithm decides what i get to think about. an ai cat video, a stranger telling me what they ate in a day, an ad telling me to buy a probiotic supplement, a wounded child refugee, a teenager dancing in revealing clothing. when i finally put my phone down - time has lurched forward without me.
eventually i came to realize that every hour spent consuming is an hour not spent creating.
so i got rid of my phone. i de-googled. i gave up the simple pleasures of keeping up with distant acquaintances online. i gave up my convenience in favor of friction. i pared down my scope of the world to myself and my close friends and thus, the world became infinitely smaller.1
it became my own.
this change has given me time to keep up with friends more consistently. to make art rather than doomscrolling. to read a handful of books this year (which is a handful more than i read the previous year.) a chance to explore my interests organically and discover that i love retro games!2 ive learned to find joy in tidying my room and tending to my space. i can sit in silence at home. at work. in line at the store. i dont compulsively reach for my phone to pass the time anymore.
i feel less like a fish in a tank and more like a fish in the ocean
... whatever that means.
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lets talk about our childhood gadgets!! here are some of mine:
✦ a blue walkman with my moms avril lavigne cd inside that fit so perfectly inside the pocket of my snow jacket
✦ a pink portable dvd player that never left my side
✦ a beloved nintendo ds with a copy of nintendogs chihuahua and friends
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