Why I'm quitting X and Why You Should Too
I sound like a porn star (thanks Elon!), quitting the industry with this title but bear with me. The title is also a bit misleading, because I'm only leaving for a week. Since I started tracking my phone usage meticulously, I've found that I have a bad habit: X.
On days when I'm busy with work I spend 4-5 hours on X. I'm sure you can imagine just how much time I spend on days when I'm free. Scary! So, I've decided to stay off X for a week. I want to see how much productive work I can get done, without the distractions from X. I'll document what I do for each of the 7 days. The results will be out when I drop next week's article.
Productivity aside, I think I'm reading more threads than books. I know I shouldn't blame X, but it's a theory I'm working on. If I'm able to read more books or pages in a week then…I hope I don’t have to cut Twitter permanently. I set a target for the number of books I want to read this year but I am barely halfway through. With one quarter left in the year of our lord 2023, I am seriously running out of time.
When I was planning to write this article, I thought I was going to go on a tirade. About how social media apps hold us back, how they prevent us from "achieving our full potential," and how we should boycott them. I'll hold off on that for now, and wait till I see the results next week. Maybe it’s not social media distracting me, I might just be a bum.
With that out of the way, I might as well tell you my adventure with a popular book on the timeline. Something about men in a certain city not being of sound mind. I decided to read it for the culture because there was a TL debate about it and its hideous twin- another book about the creatures that made the men of unsound mind. Boy o boy!
Someone tweeted or put up on their status (can’t remember where I saw it exactly), that the book is a collection of tweets. I can’t help but agree to be very honest. I can see what the author tried to do with the book but the execution falls flat. It felt more like a casual supermarket conversation between two women with so much time on their hands, than reading a book. Bottom line is I’ve read it, and I’ll add it to my thread of books I’ve read this year (which again, I’m seriously falling behind on).
I used the book as a break from the main book I’m currently reading. When I am reading a book, manga, manhwa, or manhua that is super long, I like taking breaks by reading something else in that same medium, that’s shorter. I also just realized that it’s the first fiction book I’m reading this year and I am sad all over again. I’ll pick one of the fantasy trilogies in my library to cleanse my eyes after this foray.
I’m pleasantly surprised I sat to write this post after the one I published last week. I always promise myself that I’ll write and publish more but I always fall short. This time I’m going to try my best to keep up with these Sunday posts. I still have not figured out a format or niche but the only thing I’m certain of is the consistency I want to teach myself.
Medium seems like a decent platform to post stuff, and I’m a bit biased towards it because that’s the first place I used before Substack came along. I’m still experimenting but one of these two is going to be my long term solution to post my writings. With that being said, from the moment you read this, it would be the last time you see me on X. At least, for a week.
See you soon,
Tony.
