I Just Killed Social Media — #68
Being out of the loop
I recently deleted Twitter and Medium from my iPhone. I did this in order to cut off my bad habits of opening these apps and wasting countless minutes scrolling through tweets, hitting the like button, scrolling, liking, scrolling, replying, liking, scrolling, scrolling, liking, scrolling, ad infinitum. In the case of Medium, I was addicted to checking my notifications and statistics. Those green bars are just so addictive. Not healthy!
I still have Instagram, though, so it’s not as if I don’t use any social media on my phone now. In fact, I recently set up a new Instagram account purely focussed on literary topics. I post photos of my latest reads, my library, journals, and quotes. I am enjoying it wonderfully. It gives me a visual outlet for my passion of books and literature. I have also gained 30 followers in the first 10 days, without following anybody else.
How has the lack of Medium on my phone affected me? Well, I am much less obsessed by my statistics now. This is a great positive. A slight negative is that I am interacting with the community slightly less. The mobile app was great for discovering latest posts and new authors. It allowed you to easily keep up with publications you follow, as well. But I am not looking back. I need to do this. It is a cleansing exercise.
How has the lack of Twitter on my phone affected me? I have found myself with the urge to express something on Twitter on numerous occasions now, but I have not tweeted since I do not have the app installed. In a way, I have found this refreshing as I have kept the thoughts or experience to myself, and this has heightened its value. If I really have to share something with somebody, I have reverted to sending a whatsapp message to a close friend (or two) or my wife. A lot more personal. I still tweet, don’t get me wrong. But now it is normally when I am in front of my laptop or if I am sharing something from my mobile on another app that allows sharing via Twitter.
I feel like the shakes have stopped and the cravings are dissipating. I have survived my withdrawal symptoms and I feel a lot better for it.
How about you? Got any addictions you need cutting out?
