This post is presented with endless apologies to the late Mark Fisher, whose essential essay on Twitter discourse (and much more) I co-opted for this post's title.
Good morning, and welcome to my blog! My name is Austin and I'm a Social Psychology PhD student in Northern California. Yesterday, 12/13/18, I finally made the decision to exit social media. I've been kicking around this decision for months, maybe years, but decided yesterday to really think through what social media was doing for me (and to me). This real reckoning was spurned on by Jaron Lanier's excellent short read, Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now. In the book, tech philosophy legend Lanier, founding father of virtual reality, Internet2 pioneer, and one-time Atari guru, takes a very non-Luddite stand against social media on the basis of what it has been co-opted to do to us (rather than against what it was "originally" made for). I can remember my now-wife's mother saying "If it's free, then you're the product" over and over again about ten years ago. Lanier outlines how right this assertion is. I'm not going to rehash his arguments at any length here, although I will reprint the ten chapter headings in a moment. I can't encourage you enough to check this book out (or at least to check out one of the videos of Jaron talking over the ideas.)
Jaron Lanier's Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now
1. You are losing your free will.
2. Quitting social media is the most finely targeted way to resist the insanity of our times.
3. Social media is making you into an asshole.
4. Social media is undermining truth.
5. Social media is making what you say meaningless.
6. Social media is destroying your capacity for empathy.
7. Social media is making you unhappy.
8. Social media doesn't want you to have economic dignity.
9. Social media is making politics impossible.
10. Social media hates your soul.
If true, any one of these reasons is sufficient to warrant an exit from social media. The goal here, though, isn't to convince you that that's the right thing to do. It's barely to convince you that what I did was the right thing. It's just my story. Here are the facts: My engagement with (or, as Lanier would put it, manipulation by) social media was once a lot of fun, reaffirming of my social connections, and truly information-rich, and it just isn't anymore.
When I was right on the edge yesterday, I took a step back and scrolled through my timeline on Facebook for two or three minutes. In that span of time, I saw maybe two posts containing any content generated by people who I personally know. Everything else I saw was sensationalized or even dishonest news reporting from around Sacramento (as an aside, of the places I've lived, nowhere reports their online news in as misleading and infuriating way as the local television stations in Sacramento; thank God for the Sacramento Bee), ads (how was I not already aware of how many Facebook posts are just ads???), or shares of religious or political content designed to polarize. Reflecting on my reaction to other posts, even from good friends, over the last few years, I see myself as a jealous, covetous, angry, and sad person, constantly ruminating on how people don't deserve the good things that happen to them, how people "shouldn't have the money to do that, because I work harder," how people are naive or stupid for thinking the way they do. These thoughts were often immediately followed by a bit hit of negativity toward myself for being that sort of person. So, Lanier's Points 3 & 7 (and, to a point, 6) in vivo. Why would I want to keep engaging with something that leads me to think about my friends like that? And so with Instagram (more jealousy) and Twitter (political anger and the desire to buy everything I see promoted). If you want to talk more specifically about my exit, just reach out, but I've already gone on about it longer than I intended to.
Step 1 was deleting the apps from my phone and tablet. Step 2 was logging out on my browser from Instagram and Twitter. My Facebook remains "up" until they give me my data file (which I requested almost 24 hours ago!), but, after that, I'm going to deactivate it. I'm not sure I'll be away forever, hence my not deleting the account outright. I see myself enacting almost hypnotic behavior. (For example, I keep performing the motions with my hands that it'd take to pull up Facebook on my iPad -- I don't think my scanner app has ever been opened so many times in one day). But, from December 13th on (or, more accurately, from whenever Facebook gives me my data file on...), I'm going to give going social media-free a whir and see if/how it improves my daily life, externally and internally. With that, I'll end this particular discussion, because it's clear I could go on endlessly.
I'll be documenting my reactions to living social media-free sporadically here, but, largely, this blog is going to serve one of the purposes that Facebook, Twitter, etc. once did. I'll be posting reflections on art, culture, & politics, things that I used to spend time talking about on Facebook before it felt so crushingly overfull and disinterested. I'll look at the comments section from time to time and am happy to engage with any of your thoughts on what I have to say. First up will be some posts looking back on things I enjoyed this year (specifically, new music, books, and movies). Expect the first of those in the next week or so. Thank you for reading this long first post!
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