Why I left Social Media and many will.

I decided to delete all my social media accounts. I know, I’m crazy right?!

Slipped myself out of Facebook 3 years ago, Instagram a year ago, orkut too, never even bothered checking out twitter, snapchat, tumblr or any other.

Messenger, Facebook, and Instagram are three social apps which kept me connected to my life - or so I thought. Event invitations, being tagged in memes, messaging my friends, I was worried if I disconnected I would isolate myself from my friends. This was #false, I wouldn’t miss out on anything.

Illustration by Gudim

Back in those days, when I had social media, I used to visit family functions and events (even now I do), I would be meeting my uncles, cousins and close ones after a long time. Me with excitement would approach and it ends up like "Hey you on Facebook right? Let's talk on messenger" or something like "Hey let's click a selfie, a fake smile, then loads of hashtags, and a bye". This was getting worse, everyone I meet from my younger cousins to older uncles and aunts. It was time to give up virtual life and lead a real one.

Illustration by Gudim

Progress comes in many ways in our lifetime. Most importantly, it comes through our critical thinking faculty and knowing what is real and what could be fake. And our acceptance or willingness to listen to different viewpoints. Facebook, Google, Instagram, etc have tried to make our lives simpler by creating algorithms which predict what we want to see. Yes, this is nice and convenient, but it's also creating a bubble where we remain safe and unchallenged.

And here is my favorite video by Moby. Hope this provokes a thought in you too.

As stupid as it sounds, we’re innately inclined to make our lives look interesting. I want to channel the happiness I feel with my close friends and family— and not the happiness I felt from sharing those moments and watching others’ moments.

So far, it feels much better seeing the world without a phone screen getting in the way.