What social media presence/internet experience are you looking to quit?

[caracalled]

A lot of us are or were unhappy with the way we were/are spending our time online, and have quit some social media sites in response to that. I see this as a continuous process of changing things around in order to build a better relationship with the web!
I'm curious, if you haven't gone cold turkey and quit everything online (which I assume is pretty rare), what's your next goal for something you'd like to stop doing? It can be an account to delete or a behavior to stop, or whatever you deem fitting for this thread!
There's no judgement here, and please do not feel ashamed for anything here! You set your own goals, and we're all in different spots and situations!

Mine are:

• I have a habit of returning to Youtube to just watch random stuff, and I'm hoping to fully stop with this (that would also let me delete my google account sooner or later!!). I've been able to get it down quite a bit, and on average I now spend around 1 hr and 40 minutes per day on there (including watching stuff to fall asleep sometimes, which I also want to stop), and I really really want to get that number to be below 30 minutes. I follow some channels on an RSS reader, and I don't mind watching those new releases, but it really is nowhere near 1 hr and 40 minutes of content per day. The replacement behavior i picked for this one is reading, watching full length movies and putting on sumo/karuta tournaments in the background if those are going on right now!
• I still have a Tumblr account! And I recently realised I don't really like it! Even with blocking people and muting tags I still see too many people shadowboxing their own algorithm and it's really not a nice vibe. I also realised I can just use pinterest if I want to look at nice pictures of horses (which is around 70% of my tumblr usage), so I picked Pinterest, select blogs on my RSS reader and looking for art books and art exhibits in real life as replacement behavior
• Unfortunately - and i do feel some shame around this - I still have a tiktok account. I don't use it most of the time, but around once a month I'll spend a day or two scrolling the app only to get annoyed and delete it. I don't really know how to go about deleting it or making it more rare, but I want to get there eventually, so my ideas for replacement behaviors are reading manga (when I want something easy for the ol' noggin), reading recipe blogs and rewatching old tiktoks I have saved on my phone.

I'm curious as to what your goals are!!

[WhiteFelineWonder]

One of these days I'm gonna wanna kick the bucket on Bluesky. As time goes by and I develop my website more, I've been less and less inclined to use Bluesky. One thing I know they haven't implemented yet and I'm still internally screaming about this is a sort of reserved mode.
Like you can allow or deny someone to follow you, there'd be a lock icon on your name, reposts on your own stuff would be turned off for both old and new.

I've frozen myself on Bluesky once before and I can do it again, but until there's a reserved mode, Bluesky is on the chopping block.

(even if there is i'd still have it be on the chopping block)

[alexela64]

At this point i think the strongest contenders are:

A) Not keeping my phone next to/in my bed as i'm falling asleep. I don't scroll on my phone because I don't have anything to scroll on, but I keep it next to my bed because my POS alarm clock has no snooze button and can't do more than one alarm at a time. Guess that's what I get for using analog.... lol.

I also like to have my phone nearby because I often precede my sleep with a healthy session of ace attorney gameplay -- it gets my mind off things that are stressing me out because it's so F***ING hard to figure out sometimes. Hence, phone near the bed for inevitably looking up a guide before I ragequit and start playing picross again.

B) Stepping back from games that have no definitive ending. I have a lot of trouble with this because with games like Hi3 (my most played probably out of any game Ever, just hit 300 days login and that doesn't count my original account I lost) it's just so easy to log in and do a similar routine everyday, the content is always new and engaging, and there's a super active playerbase.

The problem is that sometimes my special interest in the game gives me time blindness. I work closing shifts at my job, so if i get home and play for a few hours, it's already past midnight, and then i don't have the energy to "close up shop" for the night... etc etc. I have such a large backlog of content to work through, even though I've been playing for so long, that I can play for several more hours than I would with a linear-progression game (given i have enough in-game stamina lmao)

[thecatscanvas]

Most of it, to be honest. I'm looking in general to re-inconvenience myself technology-wise, because I've found that inconvenience leads to creativity and action.

I take so many pictures on my phone that I never go back to or really care about. And then I just stuck them on Insta to store them where my friends could see. But if I had a physical camera, physical scrapbooks, I would care less about taking so many pictures and cherish the ones I had more. Plus they wouldn't be harvestable by some algorithm.

Sure I could look up an instant list of billions of recipes online. Or I could walk to my library. Or I could ask my friends. Or I could use what I already know to experiment.

I hate spotify for what it does to artists and the insane amount of ads. I am working on downloading my favorite songs as mp3s so I can have them offline anywhere. And I can also be more active in exploring new music rather than just listening to whatever the ai pushes me. This has incentivized me to go out and see local bands which has been amazing.

With a smartphone, the internet follows me everywhere. But if I minimize my internet use except for when I'm on my computer, the internet becomes a place again, and I stop reaching for it when I'm bored.

And yes, I used social media a lot just to update my friends on my life. But I can literally just call them and tell them, or visit them irl.

The only real thing social media has to offer me is the opportunity to share my artwork to strangers. But I've realized in the process of cutting myself off of it, when I looked around in real life, there were plenty of opportunities. Lots of local businesses displayed and sold art, there were art fairs and markets, and even museums that displayed local work. All I really needed was an email and a portfolio.

The only things I really want from the internet are things I can find healthy ways to achieve. Connection with other people online? I can use forums and chatrooms like these. Sharing my art and writing instantly? I can make my own website. And I can access information easily enough, which is good for when I can't find what I need at the library.

I think the biggest issue for me is that being so online in the past has drilled into me the idea that I need to be marketable somehow. It felt like I was constantly under surveillance, that I had to be some kind of micro-celebrity to people who enjoyed my posts. And every time I found myself doing a task, especially a creative one, in the back of my head I was filming and editing a clip of it, measuring its worth as a piece of content. I hated that. Being offline just lets me be some guy. It's relaxing.

[thecatscanvas]

(including watching stuff to fall asleep sometimes, which I also want to stop)

I'm also dealing with this same issue. For years I've needed something to fall asleep to, but now that I live in a safer environment where I can work on my anxiety healthily, I don't really enjoy having random stuff and a bunch of ads beamed into my brain while I'm unconscious. I think it's also making my dissociation worse.

Things I've found helpful are downloading music and listening to that while I sleep to wean myself off of needing stimulation, and for nights where I can't turn my brain off, having one recording I return to that's really long and boring (for example, I had one that was just an explanation of the rules of tennis.)

[Blue]

Realistically? Nothing. I'm very happy with the balance of my online persona and what I do online, be it the larger internet or indie web. It took a while to get to that point, but I am there. I don't talk about my personal life/stuff online as I'm primarily fandom-oriented, and the little personal accounts I do have have not been touched for half a decade at this point or have been deleted. No one here (or maybe that's just my circle of people) really uses social media to keep up with friends, since we use chats for that or just meet up when we can.

IF I had to pick one thing, it would probably be to stop reading fan fiction until 3 in the morning, which, honestly, should be an easy thing overall for me to do. At least for the days when I know I have to get up early or I have something important.

[caracalled]

I'm also dealing with this same issue. For years I've needed something to fall asleep to, but now that I live in a safer environment where I can work on my anxiety healthily, I don't really enjoy having random stuff and a bunch of ads beamed into my brain while I'm unconscious. I think it's also making my dissociation worse.

Things I've found helpful are downloading music and listening to that while I sleep to wean myself off of needing stimulation, and for nights where I can't turn my brain off, having one recording I return to that's really long and boring (for example, I had one that was just an explanation of the rules of tennis.)

I really like the outlook you have on how you're in an environment that lets you work on your anxiety healthily! I do also feel like the "watching stuff to sleep" thing is often either an inability to sit with my boredom or a cope when I don't know how to deal with my feelings and need something to take my mind off of things. But similar to you I'm working on it!

One of these days I'm gonna wanna kick the bucket on Bluesky. As time goes by and I develop my website more, I've been less and less inclined to use Bluesky.

BlueSky is sort of like Twitter, right? Is the culture similar? How has your website worked to replace that for you? :D

Realistically? Nothing. I'm very happy with the balance of my online persona and what I do online, be it the larger internet or indie web. It took a while to get to that point, but I am there. I don't talk about my personal life/stuff online as I'm primarily fandom-oriented, and the little personal accounts I do have have not been touched for half a decade at this point or have been deleted. No one here (or maybe that's just my circle of people) really uses social media to keep up with friends, since we use chats for that or just meet up when we can.

It's really cool that you've found a way that works for you! :D Especially with fandom spaces, I personally have a hard time with them (plus none of my interests really have fandoms), but I have a friend who is very active on Twitter and in their own fandom spaces and I envy them for they enjoyment of it and how unaffected they are by weird people

[WhiteFelineWonder]

BlueSky is sort of like Twitter, right? Is the culture similar? How has your website worked to replace that for you? :D

It's a much more pleasant place than Twitter for sure, but as time goes by I've had a change of mind since I keep seeing posts that talk about current events when frankly, I just wanna plug my ears for once - I'm getting tired of all these different breaking news.
The more I've been working on my website lately, the more I've been content. It's an exhausting long-term process but GOD I love seeing my site get developed more and more. Also the fact that I can just post whatever I want to my website, whether it's a video, a drawing, music, and there being no social aspect of it. It's like "hey check it out, I posted some new music or drawing highlight" and I don't have to worry about getting any sort of backlash with what I upload since it's just me and my website (and File Garden)

Maybe it's to do with me knowing what Dead Internet theory is and how I'm tired of all these numbers going up, like I just wanna grill for Pete's sake, y'know? Social media doesn't really feel fulfilling. Like, I don't care for how many likes or reposts some post of mine has, or a star rating, I just wanna post that & just be it.

Plus I get to decorate my site however I see fit, with all these different elements and images and graphics, it's a place I can truly call home.


It's   c o z y

[ialu]

The only real social media I have left is probably Reddit. I can stomach using it because, despite the site's innumerable flaws, it remains an invaluable resource for researching niche topics; you can easily find, like, five at least moderately active subforums dedicated to an obscure hobby/subject you previously probably didn't even know existed. That, and it's forum-like setup is more palatable than that of most traditional social media services. Having said that, I can get far, far too drawn into it at times, and so I want to reframe it in my head as a resource before anything else. Trying to foster community or social interaction on there is a god-awful nightmare

I also use YouTube quite a bit - I normally use it to put on the same, like, three or four comedy channels on in the back while I do other things, but that is starting to feel stale and unproductive. I don't think I'm going to stop using it as a whole any time soon (though I do hope to start using it through a client like FreeTube so as to avoid throwing any bones to the actual company), but I want to not only decrease my content consumption but shift it entirely. I've started listening to more podcasts to achieve this end; I had Trashfuture on in the back just a bit ago

My biggest problem, though, is probably how dependent I am on YouTube Music specifically. It's humiliating. I went through and wiped 95% of my Google data and only realized how much I cling to YTM when it hit me that all of my liked songs were straight up gone. One of these days I'm going to force myself to delete my account and download everything as an MP3 for Winamp. For those who are stronger-willed than I am and don't rely on music algorithms to find new things: what sites do you like to go to to find new music?
 

[cacoreco]

it's old news that twitter (or... X... yuck...) has been an absolute mess for quite a while now, but I still can't bring myself to stop using it. on one hand, the website is the only place I can easily find discussion and fanart from the fandoms I'm part of, read my friends thoughts and see their art, but! on the other hand, the place is filled to the brim with bots and just terrible, awful people... and what's most upsetting about it all is that this is exactly what the website feeds on: your hate, your fear, your (morbid) curiosity...

it clearly is a very, very unhealthy place to stay at, but i kind of grew up using this thing, and there are still some cool communities there, wich makes it all the more difficult to just stop using it  I plan on reducing the amount of time i stay there and spend a lot more place on the indie/alt web   

then there's like, instagram and youtube, which are now riddled with an overseeing, privacy invading AI, and short form content, that they keep on pushing down your throat. I plan on reducing a lot of the time I spend there as well. only things holding me back are the fact I like seeing what my friend post/send me and just how easy it is to access these places, as compared to forums or neocities 

[ialu]

on one hand, the website is the only place I can easily find discussion and fanart from the fandoms I'm part of

If you're interested in seeing fanart specifically, Pixiv is a very good website for curating fanart; it's not free of algorithms by any means and has a (pretty inconsequential) freemium structure, but the work there is often high quality and the site is orders of magnitude less toxic than Twitter. I've seen plenty of the uploaders on there link back to their Twitter profiles, so some of the artists you follow may be on there as well. YMMV, as it's primarily oriented towards Japanese media and creators, but there's a pretty dang good number of artists on there from the anglophone Internet as well. For something even less algorithmic, there's always boorus/imageboards, but those are a bit less accessible. Sorry if you know this already; it's just what I thought of first

only things holding me back are the fact I like seeing what my friend post/send me and just how easy it is to access these places, as compared to forums or neocities 

Gah, I can really relate to that. I'm (mostly) detached from social media, but I still use Discord (not the end of the world but not as private or... not-corporate as I would enjoy), and I know I would have one hell of a time getting my friends to switch over to anything else. Super centralized or large, corporation-backed platforms just make me feel anxious, like I'm always being watched; the introduction of ID checks on the Internet and the discussion around things like Chat Control only strengthen that sense. To me, the risks of these things vastly outweigh the annoyance of having to set up accounts on more complex or decentralized services, but the people around me seem to disagree. At this point, I just tank it. Not much else to do!

[caracalled]

The only real social media I have left is probably Reddit. I can stomach using it because, despite the site's innumerable flaws, it remains an invaluable resource for researching niche topics; you can easily find, like, five at least moderately active subforums dedicated to an obscure hobby/subject you previously probably didn't even know existed. That, and it's forum-like setup is more palatable than that of most traditional social media services. Having said that, I can get far, far too drawn into it at times, and so I want to reframe it in my head as a resource before anything else. Trying to foster community or social interaction on there is a god-awful nightmare

Hmm maybe it would help to delete your account then? I deleted mine a while ago and the site is still accessible (the nsfw subreddits too if you use old.reddit) and I still like to use it for looking up things, especially niche hobbies (you're absolutely right that it's really reliable for finding human-written information!!). But without an account you can't get caught up in your feed or respond to discourse, so that makes it nicer!

My biggest problem, though, is probably how dependent I am on YouTube Music specifically. It's humiliating. I went through and wiped 95% of my Google data and only realized how much I cling to YTM when it hit me that all of my liked songs were straight up gone. One of these days I'm going to force myself to delete my account and download everything as an MP3 for Winamp. For those who are stronger-willed than I am and don't rely on music algorithms to find new things: what sites do you like to go to to find new music?

This is a big part of my already-changed media consumption that made a huge difference to me! I had Spotify beforehand and eventually just made the cut and cancelled my subscription. I took screenshots of my playlists beforehand for reference but decided to not move over my entire collection with some service but instead buy/download music individually when I remembered it, which was a good check for what I actually reach for when listening to music.
I also noticed that my taste in music shifted when it wasn't algorithmically recommended anymore, which was really cool to see! It's like there was a more cara music taste underneath the algorithm, yknow?
I get music from bandcamp a lot, many punk and breakcore artists don't really believe in copyright so you can get stuff for free, but i also pay for some albums if i really like them. Another option i've found are CD shops, which offer a more loose feel of rummaging, and that can be very fun. In a similar vein, my public library has CDs. If your friends are into this stuff, borrowing from friends is also a really good option, since they know your taste, and getting something curated is so much fun!! ( I also ask for youtube playlists with recommendations from friends sometimes). Lastly, there are some subreddits like r/fmhy and r/piracy, if that's your thing :)