Three Years Without Social Media

Update

My last update was in 2021 at the one-year mark of deleting my social media accounts. Facebook and Instagram were the only two forms of social media that I used and I deleted both in 2020. 

Well, my Instagram account resurrected from the dead. When I deleted Instagram, I chose to DELETE entirely and not just deactivate it. I was told it would never be recovered. Yet here we are three years later and somehow the Metaverse has resurrected my account. 

I got an email recently with my old Instagram handle (kstrawberry) and my little profile photo ( a picture of my bulldog Otis wearing bunny rabbit ears) and a subject line of "kstrawberry....here's what you have missed on Instagram." 

Wait, what?! I thought it was gone forever. I haven't investigated or tried logging in, but I'm convinced it was never fully deleted like they claimed.

As for Facebook, I had originally chosen to deactivate it, but after this recent Instagram re-emergence, I decided to delete my entire Facebook account permanently last week. I'll be curious if in the year 2026 I get an email telling me what I have missed on Facebook. I have a hunch your information and data are never actually deleted, so we'll see. 

The Only Reason I Have Considered Re-Joining the Social Media Madness

There have been a couple times each year where I consider getting back on social media and this would be the reason:

I still occasionally make cookies and have no way of sharing photos of my creations with the masses. 

Mostly I just make cookies for friends, family, teacher gifts, etc., but if I wanted to start taking more cookie orders, social media was a helpful tool. Ultimately, given that I have not gotten back on social media for this reason, the cons have outweighed the pros.

Overall Screen Time

In my one year update, I shared that my screen time didn't change much when I deleted social media, which surprised me at the time. I didn't delete social media and suddenly find more time in my day and that has stayed true. This is one area where I do want to get better. I don't want to be addicted to looking at my phone constantly or feeling the need to be online/email/etc. throughout the day, especially when my day job requires me to be in front of a computer most of the day anyhow.

My Screen Time feature on the iPhone says I average about 3 hours per day and my total screen time last week was 12h 10 m. I'm not too sure how this is tracked since my #2 most used app is Messages and I don't feel like I spent several hours texting last week lol, but maybe I did! It is eye-opening to look at the data and see how much we have become addicted to screens. I am going to ponder ways I can personally get better about this, because reducing screen time is something I feel is important to me.

Any Regrets?

I still have no regrets about getting off social media. If I missed important life updates shared on social media by family or friends, I'm pretty certain I found out one way or another by some other avenue. If I did miss it, then I suppose I will just never know! 

I do enjoy funny memes, so I guess I miss those occasionally. 

I think my real-life connections have improved overall, or maybe that's just because I have to make more of an effort now, but I do try to be intentional in making plans or catching up with friends. I regret that I'm not as involved in our neighborhood as I once was, so that's an area I can improve by talking to my neighbor to see if I am missing anything. Pre-pandemic we had neighborhood Girls' Nights and I was on a committee to plan regular neighborhood events, which was all coordinated via the Book of Face. I have no clue if the neighborhood events are still happening since I am no longer in the FB group, but it likely fizzled out over the years.

Well, that's my update. I'm still here waiting for my no-social-media trend to catch on with everyone. :)