Just a musing: Who needs social connection anyway

Me, I do, just not on social media right now

Heeeelllllo mixers,

It has been a time since I last wrote you: there was a leak in my building, the leak was fixed, the leak started up again, the leak was fixed again but this time demolishing part of my kitchen, and, unrelated, I won trivia twice on two different teams and then proceeded to lose Trivial Pursuit to Derek three times in a row.

I admit, with so much happening, I’ve felt a bit sluggish about getting back to the blog, choosing to spend my non-busy time instead playing The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.

This post is a quick musing about taking a month (and counting) off of social media, most notably Instagram. Also notable: I won’t be logging back onto IG to promote this post, so if you could find it in your heart to share this blog to one (1) person, that would be great! Thank you!

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I deleted Instagram and its Twitter-copycat, Threads, off of my phone about a month ago. It was shortly after both the inauguration and Israel’s empty ceasefire agreement. Social media’s endless scroll only enabled my doomscrolling habit and I felt my sanity, already dependent on Prozac and circumstance, beginning to unravel. I needed to, as they say, touch grass.

Sort of felt like this.

I was pretty lost those first few days without IG; I ended up checking my email 50 times a day, my muscle memory begging for an app to tap on and scroll through. I felt unmoored — what were my friends posting on their stories?? What were my favorite writers and content creators up to?? What was happening in the world around me??? But as the days passed, I felt the urgency to know everything immediately fade away. I became more focused on what was right in front of me. All the books and magazines I wanted to read, the cat I needed to play with, the work emails I needed to respond to.

When I deleted those apps, I assumed it would be for a week or two to give myself a break, but I don’t feel the need to hop back on ASAP anymore. I’ve lost the urge to post pictures on my stories to update everyone on where I am or what I’m doing.

To be clear, I broke twice. I re-downloaded Instagram once to promote my previous post (about drinking and Dry January) and another time to see whether I had been included in any pictures from a Daybreaker event at Othership spa I had gone to (I wasn’t, and I stopped checking after a day). I almost broke a third time when someone at trivia commented that not being on Instagram and therefore being out-of-the-loop on current events and memes was “not very good for trivia.” This was, of course, before we won that night, thanks in no small part to my pop culture and sports (!) contributions.

It’s clear, a month into this unintentional cleanse, that there are both pros and cons to swearing off of social media.

Pros:

• Sanity! I am not completely unplugged from the world, but my sanity can remain intact without a constant barrage of Trump’s dismantling of the government, MAGA’s casual cruelty, and Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people.

• More time for reading because I’m not sinking into the social blackhole. Since deleting IG, I’ve finished four books and am almost finished with a fifth. I’m returning to my bookworm roots!

• Less time comparing my life to everyone else’s. It’s so easy to compare what people present on social media, and as Olivia Rodrigo knows, the constant comparison was killing me slowly and was only making me unhappier.

• Decreased screen time. I have moved some of my attention to a color-by-numbers app and one of those brick-breaking puzzle games (both of which I play while listening to podcasts), but overall, I’m spending much less time staring at my phone, especially at night. I’ve consistently shunned my phone starting around 10pm in favor of more analog activities, and I’m pretty proud of that.

Cons:

• I’m missing a lot of news, like all the recent plane crashes, the Grammys, more news about Gaza.

• FOMO. Again, what the hell are my friends and acquaintances and parasocial relationships up to?? I keep up with so many people’s lives on IG when I can’t keep up with them IRL, and I miss knowing what people are celebrating and interested in. This includes Fritz and Fiona, the young hippos at the Cincinnati Zoo!

As you can see, the pros outnumber the cons here. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can stay off of social media forever. I have my writing to promote after all, and it’s a good way to stay connected to other writers, editors, and brands, especially now that Twitter is dead. I don’t know when I’ll be back, but until then, I’ll see you all here on Substack (and Notes)!