The big ‘3-0’ is looming closer and closer, and I find myself thinking back to when I was a carefree teenager. I was lucky to have a simple pay as you go phone (but the credit never lasted long), the internet was dial up and it was slow. Painfully slow. But all I used it for (apart from homework obviously) was to chat to my friends (and boys) on msn messenger.
Now, at the ripe age of 29 I take all of that for granted. The internet is available at my fingertips whenever and wherever I am, talking over good old texting and calling. Now its facebook, snapchat and whatever else some corporation has made millions from.
Hey, I’m not judging. Up until a couple of weeks ago I was happily participating.
I would have a full blown conversation via snapchat instead of texting.
If I missed my friend I would tag her in a meme instead of calling.
I love social media but I was starting to become independent.
So I decided to delete snapchat. An app I used every 30 minutes or so to force my life onto other people. That’s what it felt like to me. By sending that notification to people’s phones I was saying ‘Hey! Look at me!’ Yeh they could ignore the notification but the temptation is always there. That little red 1 in the corner of the app, taunting you.
Did I miss it? Nope. I even found my friends and family messaging me photos that they knew I wanted to see. Sending photos by message or WhatsApp is a different level. You only send images you think people want to see. Because otherwise it’s on a level of annoyance. No one wants to be purposely annoying.
Next, and the hardest thing I had to do, was delete Facebook. I had a photography page attached to my personal Facebook, so I spent the weekend creating a separate blog just for this. Yes it may be trading one thing for another but a blog is different. It’s very one sided unless people comment on the blog. This way I get to express what I want to without having to adhere to the social constraints.
Once I pressed that deactivate button I felt as though a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
Yes I tweet and Instagram but that’s it. My time spent strolling endlessly has halved. My battery has lasted longer, and I spend more time messaging friends and calling people. I have more to say when I see people face to face. No longer is my life out there for all to see.
I would recommend it to people who feel like a cleanse. Just think, do you really need Facebook or snapchat? Or is it a false sense of connection?
