It started with Twitter.

When I signed up for Twitter quite a few years ago, Twitter was a fun, 140-character way to see what was happening around the world. But over time, it became an obnoxious platform with more and more spiteful and conflict-laden statements. And then in the last couple of years, it has phased into an unwelcome for diverse ideas, thoughts, and people.

I had been using Twitter less and less over the past couple of years. But the new ownership and the negative changes that have been happening were the last straw. Back in the fall, I finally pulled the plug and deleted my account.

Leaving Twitter was more of a boycott than a relief. I hadn’t really used it in a while, so it wasn’t a big deal to delete my account and the app. But it got me thinking.

As the new year arrived, I started taking stock, like one does, on all the things one considers at the start of a new year. And one of the things I figured out was how much time I wasted on social media. Other than Twitter, I also had Facebook and Instagram accounts. I did try TikTok, but I’m not much on the short videos, so I quickly deleted it.

I guess it was sometime in March when it dawned on me that checking Facebook felt more like a chore. It was something I had to do. But I was tired of the superficial interactions, the carefully composed and edited photos, and the BS. So much BS from the hateful comments to the misinformation to the constant barrage of ads. While there were a few people I enjoyed following, I realized that it wasn’t enough to keep me on the platform.

After making sure I had copies of all the photos I had posted over the past fifteen years (yes, that’s how long I’d been on Facebook), I deleted my account and then erased the app from my phone. I immediately felt relief.

Two quick notes about deleting a facebook account. Once you click on the delete account, it actually makes you wait 30 days before it permanently deletes your account. Just in case you change your mind. And the other thing is you can no longer use messenger or log into other sites with your facebook. While a minor inconvenience for me as I rarely used messenger and never used facebook as a log in for other sites, I know many folks do.

Thirty days later, I got the confirmation email that my account was permanently deleted. The relief turned into a sort of satisfaction. Cutting the cord, so to speak, felt freeing.

Although I admit that the relief I felt was rather weird in a sense. Our world has become all about digital online platforms. From the early days when I built my first blog with HTML code to MySpace (which I still miss) to Facebook. We tend to post everything about our lives online. And while I have, in the past, connected with many wonderful people on some of the sites, I more and more found it akin to screaming into the void. As we’ve sink further into this so-called “social” online digital world, I am finding the interactions less social and more soulless.

Maybe blame it on my age (I am a part of Gen X), but I miss the days of pen pals and talking all night on the (corded) phone. Taking photos with a point-and-shoot 35mm camera and hoping the photos would turn out okay, but not knowing until I took the film for processing. Or just taking a vacation and leaving the phone (because it was corded) at home. Enjoying life without having to document every second.

Now I’m on the cusp of deleting Instagram. I have enjoyed the photo platform. I like posting photos and I enjoy seeing what others post. Snapshots of daily life, things to like, books to read. But that same sense of artificial has been growing. Instagram, like most of the social media platforms, has become less about the photos and more about gaining followers, pushing brands, carefully contrived photos with careful editing. Not real life.

We’re inundated with terms like viral, influencer, algorithms, trending, hashtag, and click bait. And every week there seems to be a new article or study discussing the harm of social media, both to the influencers and to the influenced.

As for me, I’m just tired. Tired of the fakeness, the constant need to have this thing or that, and the constant message that somehow, our lives aren’t as great as someone else’s but it could be if only . . . Combined with the time suck, is it really worth it? All that time scrolling, looking at other people’s carefully curated lives instead of living my own. Well, I have opted to live my own life (and have more time for reading).

I can foresee a time where social media, and really the next iterations of social media (virtual reality a la Ready Player One or Star Trek’s holodeck), encompass more and more of “real” life. But for now, at least, I have opted to not participate.

I’ve broken up with social media. And the only thing I can say is it has been a relief.