13/04/2016
Is it possible to quit social media? It seemed a mission impossible for me, a 20-year-old who survived on all kind of websites, subreddits and 4chan tags. But it hit me a few weeks ago that I was living a virtual life on my gadgets, and it's taking a toll on my relationships. I was meeting my friends over Skype, chatting with them through WhatsApp and my social life was all about, well, Facebook. Moving pixels formed people's faces, feelings and emotions. I felt like being the lines of text on a screen.
So I wanted to evaluate myself on how I would survive without having to use any form of social media. I used all kinds of apps that let me message, share and tweet what I was doing, what I was eating and what I was watching. To start my disengagement, I asked my phone to assess each of my individual app usages. After a week of logging my activities, my phone showed me that I spent 56% of my time, except when I slept, on IM services and social media accounts.
Fifty six per cent. That's not a funny number.
I had 23 different social media accounts. The first to be disabled were Facebook and WhatsApp, which accounted for 23% and 15% of my individual app usage per day. That meant five hours on WiFi and three hours on mobile data! I uninstalled WhatsApp, but I couldn't do the same with Facebook because BlackBerry needs Facebook on it all the time. So I simply un-synced the phone, and forced quit the app so that it won't send any notifications. I also uninstalled Hike, Viber, IMO, 9Chat and a bunch of other social accounts excluding Google and BBM. I left all my gaming groups too, and the only app on my screen was Steam.
That was the easier part. In the first three days, the urge to go online and check my notifications was uncontrollable. Every time I launched Chrome, I automagically typed in the letter 'f' in the omnibox. But after the third day, I could live without always thinking about my social media accounts. At times I even forgot to charge my phone.
The only apps that I used on my phone were YouTube and Hulu. My mind was free from the internet-created clutter. Most of the time, I was on my bed contemplating or playing CS:GO or DOTA. (Yes, that too was wasting my time.) Sometimes I would call my friends and ask what's going on. And I realized that I wasn't missing much by not connecting with people online.
After a while, my SIM card expired. All outer ties were cut off. My brain slowly began to adjust to the real world.
Meanwhile, playing video games and spending time on YouTube were not productive enough for me. I needed a hobby, and I had a thing for electronic music. So, I decided to get help from friends who are very well established in the local music scene. Though their initial response was negative, they agreed to help me out and taught me the basics of music production. I was all set. I felt like Rocky Balboa.
So, in a week's time, I learned a new software. And I spent most of my time tweaking knobs, learning more and more about it. Eventually, I did make a track, but I was too uncomfortable to release it on the Internet, because it's so good it would make deadmau5 look like a joke. Aha!
But after three weeks away from social media, I was also becoming an outcast. In college, I was the black sheep of the class. Movie Trailers, music, pictures uploaded by the cutie from Bio-Technology were the topics of discussions, and I was all but zoned out. The whole society, except me, was living on the Internet. Every thought, idea, and emotion, surprisingly, was flickered through the digital space in one way or the other. Cutting myself off from social networks made me a 'noob.'
Three and a half weeks later, a friend urged me to restart one of my IM Accounts, and I succumbed. Along with it, the urge for getting attention also came back. And, at the end of my one month of abstinence, I reactivated my social networking accounts as well. Peer pressure brought me down to my knees.
I realize that a lot of people like me are slaves of silicon. Living our lives impressing others by posting on social networks the food we eat, the clothes we wear and quotes said by others. Technology connects us like never before, but it also has a unique way of spreading us apart. The first thing people like you and me do when we meet is exchanging IM IDs, rather than sitting on a bench and talking. Human lives are now crumpled down to the lines of code and text on a screen.
By the way, my SIM card remains expired. No one calls me anymore, they WhatsApp.
(Photo credits: Jason A. Howie via Foter.com / CC BY Rosaura Ochoa via Foter.com / CC BY kentbye via Foter.com / CC BY)