I’m removing Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram off of my phone until Sunday February 7th, 2021. That’s two weeks of shutting down the social media tools I engage with on some regular daily or weekly level. Staying on my phone will be WhatsApp and Snapchat because they both have family group chats that I engage with, without having other interactions beyond family.
I will continue to blog every day, and these blog posts will auto-post to Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook (to my Pair-Dimes page, not my personal wall, so please follow if FB is where you usually see my blog posts). Feel free to chat with me in my blog comments, but comments on other platforms won’t be seen by me.
There is no specific reason I’m doing this, other than curiosity. I want to see what I miss, and how I will use my time. I think I’ll end up with more audio book and podcast listening time, and I’m hoping that I’ll write and meditate more. Time will tell.
I actually deleted the Apps Sunday night, and I wrote everything above before going to bed. This morning I realized that one thing I’ll need to think about is how I get news? Normally I start my day in Twitter Search looking at the News tab and trending hashtags to get a sense of what’s happening in the world. This has been my strategy for a couple years because television and radio news are not designed to inform as much as to keep you watching and listening. And while I read some print news on my phone, it tends to be focussed on the coronavirus or US politics these days… and it seems to be more commentary and opinion than actual news.
In the end, I won’t have missed much if I’m tuned out of the news for two weeks. And although I’m not always in the room, my wife does watch evening news on tv. I will survive just fine with less news along with my social media vacation.
Interestingly, I came across some Coronavirus news this morning and did a little math with the stats. It seems that while the US has vaccinated 20.5 million people, Canada has only vaccinated 0.817 million. Looking at populations, my math tells me that the US has vaccinated 6% of their population while Canada has only vaccinated 2%. What’s the first thing I thought of doing with that info? Tweeting it… my social media vacation has already started to curtail my behaviour.
I’ll share my vacation experience and reflections on February 7th.
No news sources outside social media? Still want a little bit of information? I’ve got a recommendation for you! Let me explain.
Social media is fundamentally flawed when delivering news because it isn’t curated. It’s a constant never-ending stream of what people *out there* think is important, which is usually biased toward whatever sensational headline caught their eyes. News organisations are forced to sensationalise their headlines and content, just to appeal to the social media sharer. And Twitter trends is driven almost entirely by what people are sharing.
Commercial radio, as you pointed out, has a very similar flaw. Commercial radio is funded by advertising, and advertisers only want to spend on shows where lots of people are listening. So shows have a constant incentive to keep people watching, instead of to actually inform or entertain them.
Which is why I recommend CBC Radio.
CBC Radio doesn’t have ads. It’s much more about informing and entertaining listeners than keeping them hooked. In the morning, there are 10-minute national news bulletins (as we call them) on the hour, and 5-minute local news bulletins half-past every hour. The rest of the time is devoted to more in-depth interviews about local events and culture.
CBC Radio has what social media is missing: Information and journalistic integrity. And it has none of what makes commercial radio so unlistenable: the constant ads, irritating sound effects, and inane banter.
(And it’s where I eventually hope to work!)
So yeah, I recommend listening to CBC Radio, at 88.1 FM in Vancouver. It’s the best radio (and news, and entertainment, and connection to Canada) there is.
Good luck with your hiatus!
Thanks for sharing Laef, you sound like you already work there:)
I tend to listen to
audio books at times when I’d normally listen to radio, but in the coming couple weeks I will give CBC Radio a try!
I always find social media vacations intriguing, especially about what is particularly gained. I was particularly taken by the fact that you are only doing it out of curiousity.
There is no specific reason I’m doing this, other than curiosity. I want to see what I miss, and how I will use my time. I think I’ll end up with more audio book and podcast listening time, and I’m hoping that I’ll write and meditate more. Time will tell.
David Truss https://daily-ink.davidtruss.com/2-week-social-media-vacation/
I was really interested in how you start your day in the Twitter Search. Personally, I follow Twitter via a feed in Inoreader. This kind of feels like a semi-vacation, especially when you have the shock when opening the app again for whatever reason. You kind of forget about the additional features and functions that you miss out on. I certainly do not post information as much as I used to.
I’m only a few days in and I’ve noticed that I’ve spent a bit more time on Flipboard, consuming news. I find myself still wanting to know what’s going on in the world. Beyond that, I’ve had a few instances where I’ve read something and my instinct was to share it on Twitter.
I use social media so little at work, and my work hours have been long enough that I’m not really feeling much of a hit not being on my usual social apps. I’m genuinely interested to see what this feels like a week+ in, but I’m not feeling withdrawal pangs yet and not sure I will?