Round One of My Digital Detox

                                                                                                                                 Sept.16th 2025

 

    

    In the wake of witnessing a murder online this past week today, I quit social media and many of you may benefit by doing the same. 

    I have an on-and-off relationship with Facebook, which I quit a few months ago. Facebook Marketplace is the one thing I miss from the app, and I recently bought something on Craigslist, yes Craigslist. I quit Twitter a few years ago. I loosely remain on LinkedIn for some professional articles and companies I follow for investing, however I only currently see it on my computer. I do think there is a difference from engaging with social media on your smartphone vs. a laptop or desk top computer. I find the thumb to be a major culprit with our addiction to social media. That action with the thumb to find the next reel or post or tweet, is similar to the action on a slot machine lever. The anticipation and action of the thumb coupled with our next dopamine hit is a powerful drug. I have been hooked for hours just fiddling with this pocket computer, we call a smartphone, yet many of us don't make phone calls, and even more of us are not becoming smarter with the adoption of the smartphone.

 I often wonder if the techies that brought us these technologies were sitting around a table wondering "what might be the negative impacts of all this technology, or was it just we are going to be wealthy beyond our wildest imaginations, so fuck it." I suppose the latter is intoxicating enough to roll with. 

My last bastion of social media left for me to abstain from is YouTube. I am not lost to the fact that Blogger is owned by Google, which owns YouTube. There will be other dilemmas and contradictions that I will need to address. One of them is the title of this blog, and that I am posting and writing this on a digital screen.  I have written in my journal with pen and paper that digital screens can steal your life experience, because I believe inherently that we primates are happier and more content offline than online.

The year is 2025 and completely divorcing myself from the digital world would be irrational and have severe consequences, for one I get paid by submitting paperwork online. And with that said I need a detox from all things social media. Social Media is too much for my primate brain to tolerate. 

In my Twitter days I tried to establish the hashtag #SomeTimeSocialMedia, because that is what social media felt like to me. Sometimes it was social, and many times it was anti-social. I just don't think our primate brains are built for social media in a healthy way.

 It was easy for me to let it go and I have a garden to retreat to and other adult responsibilities. I didn't have a monetized social media with thousands or millions of followers. My social network wasn't tied to a particular platform. I am not the head of a corporation or government agency, and don't need to provide the public or shareholders with information. I do wonder why some people in government would benefit from having a social media account, because of the amount of disinformation not being beneficial to society at large. I would often just feel drained and tired after commenting and probably arguing online with random people. I would ask myself, "what is the purpose of this?" 

 I have struggled with enjoying social media as a 49-year old man. I like many of you, probably spent too much time on social media and really want to live more of my life offline and without a digital screen handy. So here are a few things I have done and am practicing for more life offline:

1. I have removed all social media apps, including YouTube from my smartphone. 

2. I bought a wrist watch, so that I am not using my smartphone to check the time.

3. I am leaving my phone in the car when I enter a store or I am waiting for someone.

4. If I do watch YouTube it has to be on my computer, to reduce the thumb to brain anticipatory action. You can also sign out of Google while using YouTube.

5. Use a bed side table clock, instead of your phone. 

6. Build community offline. 

7. Take an in-person class.

8. Go Forest Bathing. Walk Bare Foot on grass.

9. Read Books.

10. Exercise.