# Taking breaks from the internet
The title is clickbaity a little, during my breaks I still used internet services like Spotify and stuff for school.
# Also the word "social media" will be mentioned a lot here. Sorry.
Either way, at some point in the beginning of January I randomly decided that I needed to take a break from social media, which is literally just discord. Initially I was planning to take a continuous 3-4 week break, but after first week I decided to come back, taking another break around a week later. Why? For no reason, really, maybe to start off the year with a fresh mind or something like that.
And wow. I've noticed how much better I feel without constantly checking what people are up to. It seems like a minor thing to others, but not having my mind constantly occupied by brainrot feels nice.
I've also noticed how little I actually interact with my friends. Sure, we talked on discord literally every day, but real life is different. Instead of posting a message into a void hoping someone someday will see it and reply, I get an answer as quickly as 1 picosecond. irl conversations just feel better, not only for efficiency/productivity reasons but for social reasons too. It feels more natural - duh, humans millions of years ago didn't have internet - and I feel my social skills improve by the day.
On January 2nd '23, I officially quit social media for good. Since then I noticed nothing but positive changes to my life, mostly my mental health (which subsequently was ruined by school, but hey at least it's not social media!!11!)
I pride myself on not having any social media. I never got into whatever garbo my generation is into (Snapchat, Tiktok, etc.), and felt freer. In fact, the blank list of social medias on my main page was always meant to be empty. I don't know why I failed to keep it blank. I thought I changed, thought that I could handle the weight of social media after a year of absence. Turns out not.
On January 11th '24, I logged onto my abandoned Instagram account, and saw 3 people wanting to follow me: a person I never knew, a friend on a spam account, and another friend whom I never gave my Instagram name to - I don't mean to label them as a stalker, I just struggle to find a reason why. Why do you want to follow me, even though we meet in real life almost daily? Extra interactions, that, in my honest opinion, are not as quality as irl interactions?
After not posting to my Instagram for more than a year I finally deleted the account for good. The actual deletion date is scheduled for February 11th, but since I haven't used it for a year I think I'll forget by the time it's gone.
# So what about that fedi account that disappeared... after a week?
Yeah, well that's gone now too, for the same reasons above. Sure, fedi is not a toxic platform, but that doesn't excuse the fact that it's still social media. My messed up Gen Z brain needs to check up on everyone to see what everyone is up to, to get many favorites, boosts, followers as humanly possible. Luckily for my sanity, I stopped myself before it was too late.
It was not for me, and might never ever be. I'm good with that though.