I Desire Less Alone Time Without Social Media

The first day of social media deactivation was May 21, 2026. So technically this is day 11 without social media. My 11 year old self just said - - w h a t ??? Well 11-year-old me, after many decades of living, you and all the people around you will be looking at pictures of each other rather than each other. 11-year-old me probably went and hid in the oak tree in the backyard to avoid such a crazy future. Day 11's revelation is that without social media, a desire for real social interaction is surfacing. It takes a little more work but is worth is. I still love being alone - - if you can call being with my beloved doggies alone, but I need less alone time.

Social Media Is Self Soothing

Just read an email about a lost dog in a bad part of town. I LOVE dogs and it hurts everytime i see one of these posts. My impulse was to get onto FB!

Am I California Social Media Sober?

Yes, my mornings are noticeably different already without all the Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tik Tok checking but am I really social media free because i still watch some YouTube? YouTube is different because much like this blog, no one knows me there. I rarely post anything and only make occasional, non controversial comments that generally get a like or two, so there is no pathetic checking to see what random people approve of me or my comments. Certain skin treatments will cause bad things previously unseen to rise to the surface, scab and fall off. This social media detox feels similar. There are little uncomfortable things surfacing daily that the social media mask covered and supressed. Today's mole is a feeling of vulnerability surprisingly. It's as if subconsciously I believed there was an actual support system there and it is now gone. So the pimples and moles from that are rising to the surface and becoming uncomfortable. But the promise of glowing, healthy skin helps me to navigate another day.

Day Six - Squirrel Carcass

There really is a withdrawal process! I always got the sense that this life in this body on Earth is basically a green screen and getting out of social media kind of feels like confronting the green screen rather than the images being projected onto it. No one has noticed I'm deactivated. At least no one contacted me outside of FB. In fact I specifically told someone I deactivated my account and she forgot the next day. My dog once caught a baby squirrel and killed it. The other squirrels didn't miss a beat in their squirrel day. The only thing that changed is that they had to hop over the tiny carcass here and there. My grayed out profile pic indicating that the account is deactivated is that squirrel carcass right now. An actual childhood friend who is currently a FB friend, recently had his account hacked. I knew immediately when he said he was selling crypto, something he'd never do. He is very popular on FB because he is very vocal about his political opinions, and sort of holds court in a very socratic manner. So he engages like minded people and polar opposites. So I messaged him and the hacker responded. I asked what street he grew up on and suddenly the account disappeared entirely. No one seemed to notice he disappeared! I made an announcement on FB asking if anyone had actual human contact with him and not one person responded. Even he was the squirrel carcass.

Did I Think of Facebook As Someone To Tell About My Day?

When this rainbow appeared as I picked up my dogs poops in the backyard,I thought, who do i tell about my day now? Turns out I'm just talking to myself as usual. The only difference is that now I know and own that. When I think about the way social media has regressed my social maturity level, I am surprised I don't have acne. The amount of times I was about to add a laugh emoji to someone's post but stopped because he/she never laughs at my posts and they are much funnier, or unfollowed someone because they clearly don't follow me.

Yes, Social Media Takes Up A lot of Time

Serioulsy, what need does social media fill? While the impulse to see 'what's going on' persists, I realize there was never any real social connection. So what is it? It reminds me of a breakup though, in that way it seems like real social connection. Unfortunately or fortunately i don't really have time to explore what need social media fills because i am meeting real, live actual humans for a bike ride in a beautiful park in 40 minutes.

I Cut The Grass Before 9am!

Day Two Of My Social Media Detox

Day two of a facebook, instagram and tiktok detox, in that order. I never got that into tikTok so that has been deactivated for a while. Instagram was just fun to repost funny videos so not much of an addiction. Facebook is the game changing one. So far so good. I'm very routine oriented and constantly checking FB was a big part of my morning ritual. It's 8:44 am and I am done with all my other word games: wordle, connections, strands, waffle daily and the special Monday morning deluxe edition. The amount of time typically spent on fb and words with friends was alot but i don't think i'll really feel that right away. At least i'm writing here. That's a good start to a more productive use of my time. This really does feel a little like withdrawal. Although I've never played "Sims" FB seems like the same thing. There are real people behind the characters we interact with but rarely do the characters accurately represent the people behind them. But so often during the day I want to pop in to see if anyone else is talking about the fact that it started raining on this memorial day. Why? Would it make me feel less alone in the world? This is only day one off social media but i supspect the result of this endeavor may be that i interact with humans more. I say humans because there is plenty of interaction with dogs already.

It's Deactivated Again

I finished one of two words with friends games and that's enough. The facebook account is deactivated again and again it's a feeling of relief. I will miss WWF and the compulsive FB checking but look forward to the disengagement more.

Speaking Into the Void

OK now I am waiting to finish the last game with the two people who continued to play words with friends with me. THEN I will deactivate my facebook account and start talking into this void instead of that one.

Back On

There was a message that said you can still use messenger while your facebook account was deactivated but as soon as i opened it BOOM back on. So today's assignment is to read the instructions on how to keep playing words with friends while deeactivated. It requires logging on with a different email directly into the zenga app apparently.

The Process Of Breaking Up With Social Media

I finally deactivated my Facebook and Instagram account. Why? Not sure. But I feel better already. It's only been about four hours and already I caught myself drafting statuses to post and several impulses to check my feeds.