I have finally deleted the last of my social media accounts. Over the years, plenty of people have spoken and written about the problems with social media. More than enough has been said, so I won't say much more about those downsides. But I will take a few minutes to mention the various platforms which I've deleted accounts from.
It started with either Facebook or Twitter. I'm not sure which was first. It was a long time ago. This was back when Twitter was stilled called Twitter rather than X. Even then I could see how toxic the Twitter space could be. I used to tweet mostly political content; a topic which attracts people with strong opinions. I decided that I didn't want that hostility in my life, so I deleted Twitter. As for Facebook, I got tired of a few things: the same memes circulating for weeks; petty drama and arguments; and having my content weaponised against me by a former partner.
The next account to go was LinkedIn. I grew tired of the pretentious posturing of ambitious people, who tried to appear relevant by posting exaggerated career boasts. I never posted much on LinkedIn, but again, I found that some of my content was being weaponised against me. So I decided to deprive such malicious people of their ammunition.
Next up was Instagram. This is a platform which I have revisited a few times as a user. Each time with different content. Photography, art, and gardening were the main types. Instagram became an addictive time-waster, so I left it.
Reddit was the next to be deleted. Time wasting and unpleasant arguments were the reasons for leaving. In the early days I found Reddit was a fun place with mostly nice people, but behaviours changed over the years.
The next one was a recent deletion, and a pretty big one for me - Discord. I wasted hours every day shooting the breeze, joking around, and having pointless discussions on Discord. I'll admit that I had a lot of fun on the platform, but I don't like the time-suck that it became. And you know what - now that I've been clear of it a while, I don't miss it at all.
And for the grande finale... insert drum-roll please... YouTube. I had that account for 19 years. Nine... teen... years... Getting rid of that account felt like slaying the final dragon. And as of today it's gone. Of course I can still use the platform without an account, and I'm sure I will from time to time. But the subscriptions and suggestion algorithms kept me hooked, watching more videos than I ever intended to.
My relationship with the internet has been a long-running, and ever-changing one. Filled with curiosity, joy, and enthusiasm in the beginning. As the years went by, it became an experience of frustration, disappointment, and far too much wasted time. I don't know where it will go from here, but I think it will continue to be minimal.
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